Integrity is not a commodity that can be taken off a shelf

Dec 23, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Ever since the PPP won the election in 2001, this country has been plagued with bribery and corruption.
It was not surprising, therefore, that provisions have been made in the Constitution for an Integrity Commission and a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) in clear recognition and acknowledgement of the fact that Guyanese are no longer living in the age when men were born gentlemen, but rather in the age when efforts are being made to make men gentlemen by laws and regulations.
Yet the PPP regime has not been forthright with the nation in establishing the PPC or not even allowing the Integrity Commission to function independently of the PPP control. Had the Procurement Commission been in place, we would not have another Fip Motilall in Mohamed Osman and his Ghost recycling company, Natural Globe Inc. attempting to rob the taxpayers of Guyana.
Corruption seems to be the key behind everything the PPP does, especially in awarding contracts to Ghost companies like Natural Globe Inc. Not only has is its CEO to be blamed, but also the minister for not disclosing her daughter’s interest in the company and the PPP regime’s failure to do due diligence.
The PPP cabal is more interested in squandering the taxpayers’ money more than anything else in return for huge kick-backs. Their mode of operation is to get something from every contract and that is the reason they are not interested in vetting the contractors.
The dictum that a man’s word is his bond has clearly lost all its intrinsic value and significance under this PPP regime and this is why the PPC and the Integrity Commission are urgently needed.
Laws were passed, no doubt with the expectation of halting the escalation of corruption and dishonesty on the part of those in public life and those exercising public functions, but it has, it would seem, proven to be neither a palliative nor a panacea to reducing or eradicating corruption in Guyana except perhaps to adorn the statute books with yet another law.
It is significant to note, however, that while the law is one which primarily constitutes an invasion of one’s right to privacy, the enactment of the law has been justified on the grounds of public interest as opposed to the right of the individual.
This is the message we want the PPP cabal to hear. The word integrity clearly connotes persons of unblemished character and strong moral principles and persons who are held in high esteem as exemplars and worthy of becoming persons in public life such as Ministers, Members of Parliament and those holding public office.
But this is not the case with the cabal who are the owners of huge land and properties worth billions of dollars—some of which have been derived from the state, which the people are aware of.
However, empirical evidence has established that persons of such caliber are clearly scarce commodities in the society, especially in the cabal and this conclusion may receive some support in a statement made some time ago by President Hoyte when he said that “selection of members of the Integrity Commission is not a matter to be rushed as these persons must be of the highest caliber and integrity.”
President Hoyte and other decent and honest Guyanese of yesteryear must have been very restless in their graves for what this corrupt cabal has and continues to do with the state resources. Not only have they taken the state resources to fatten their bank accounts, they have also used the state resources to fatten their relatives and friends bank accounts as well.
Integrity is therefore not a commodity that can be taken off a shelf as this immoral regime has done. The value and importance of integrity has to be nurtured and developed during a person’s formative years failing which the word becomes meaningless to those who are strangers to it.
As human beings we are basically the product of our environment, so that a person born, nurtured and developed in an environment destitute of those intrinsic values would clearly be devoid of them as is the case with the current cabal.
While we address our ministers in the PPP as “Honorable” (righteous and incorruptible), the personal honor to which the word owes its genesis or origin would seem to have lost much, if not all of its value and significance since it has become imperative to enact laws and regulations, the purport and intent of which are to subject such persons to the submission of their incomes, assets and liabilities to the Integrity Commission on an annual basis for scrutiny and for the purposes of declaring them to be persons of integrity.
This constitutional mechanism has been predicated on the fact that Ministers and parliamentarians in the regime have so misused and abused their powers and authority for personal gain and aggrandizement that they should be found guilty of criminal offences.
As a consequence, the question that has arisen from time to time is whether these ministers and Parliamentarians should continue to be addressed as “honorable” or whether they should be addressed simply as Mr. or Ms. or just by their first names.
Most Guyanese seem to have lost confidence and respect for the cabal and would not want to address them as ‘the Honorable.’
One of the mind-boggling questions is therefore, whether legislation per se will stem the tide of  bribery and corruption on the part of those in public life or whether there should be put in place a comprehensive and intensive educational programme designed to create an environment in which the children who would be the adults of tomorrow could be nurtured, developed and sensitized of the intrinsic value and significance of the principles of honesty and integrity.
Since bribery and corruption would appear to be irrefutably endemic and pervasive in the regime and in the society, non-governmental organizations such as the Guyana Transparency Institute, the Private Sector Commission, the Guyana Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the trade unions among others ought to collectively consider speaking out against and condemning the regime for its failure to stop the daily growing escalation of corruption and bribery at all levels of government.
And there is no better place to begin than with the contracts in which major kick-backs are often offered in return for them.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh

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