Corruption is not unique to Guyana

Jun 29, 2013 Editorial

Last week, former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran touched on a chink in the government’s armour, a sore spot in the heart of the ruling party and certainly an embarrassment when Guyanese have to face foreigners. That issue is corruption, something that many would like to wish away but that which is endemic in the society.
Ramkarran, lawyer by profession, writes a blog in which he expresses thoughts that were once considered his innermost feelings. Just under two years ago he, as Speaker of the National Assembly, would challenge statements of corruption from the opposition benches unless these were substantiated.
Needless to say, the opposition could only repeat anecdotal experiences because those who reported the incidence of corruption often asked not to be identified. And so it is all over the country. It is as if the culture is that people are expected to be part of the corrupt regime.
For example, Mr. Ramkarran wrote that the society has grown accustomed to contractors delivering substandard work then complaining that they have had to pay officials so much that they barely had enough money to complete the project. Of course, they must have told Ramkarran that they either paid the officials directly or through intermediaries.
But that level of corruption is only the tip of the iceberg. There are the house lots that have provided substantial earnings for those who dealt in them. For example, the society is of the firm belief that people close to the government were sold plots of land in blocs for housing development. They in turn, further subdivided these blocs into house lots and at the end of the day, they made perhaps twenty times the amount they paid for the whole plot.
The government would insist that it is not into business and is prepared to let the entrepreneurs construct the homes and the like. The entrepreneurs would indeed build houses and put in the necessary infrastructure but only because the entire exercise was made as profitable as ever.
For example, Eddie Boyer was sold 104 acres of land in a prime location on Lower East Coast Demerara. The pittance he paid would be grossly magnified when he parcels off the area into house lots. A cursory examination revealed that by the time Mr. Boyer sells two acres of developed house lots he would have recovered his initial investment.
Like many of the housing developers today, Mr Boyer is a friend of the government and this has not escaped the notice of the people who are insistent that corruption is pervasive in Guyana. There are many others like him, one of them a Member of Parliament, another major financier of the ruling party.
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo and President Donald Ramotar insist that they cannot be held responsible because they have been doing all they could to stamp out corruption. Former President Jagdeo is on record ads proclaiming that should he be provided with the evidence then he would act condignly. He has never done so although provided with evidence by people in the system, including a former Secretary to the Treasury.
How could he not investigate and make public the findings of an investigation into a woman who earned $48,000 a month with the Guyana Oil Company when she was employed there but who bought a house for $60 million?
President Ramotar would be hard pressed to explain some of the mansions that adorn the landscape. The Head of the Guyana Revenue Authority would not be able to provide the income tax reports for these people because very little tax would have been paid. Because this was allowed to happen none could deny that there was corruption.
It is unfortunate that fingers are pointing at this time. And it is not that there is no corruption or fraud or trafficking in persons in other countries. What makes them look more attractive than Guyana is the fact that they have systems that dispense harsh penalties to those caught. And none is exempt—there are no sacred cows.
This is where Guyana is failing.

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Corruption is not unique to Guyana

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