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Gov’t committed to improving accountability- Granger
– as third Goolsarran public accountability book launched
By Jarryl Bryan
The government is committed to rooting out corruption, but while the scourge has been shown to exist among public officials and must be eliminated, it is necessary for citizens to also be vigilant for its manifestation
The gathering for the book launch.
within the private sector.
This is according to President David Granger, who was addressing the gathering at the launch of former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran’s book, ‘Governance, transparency and accountability’. The venue was the Pegasus Hotel.
“It will not be easy,” Granger said. “(But) the Government is committed to (eliminating) corruption, improving transparency and to instituting greater responsibility. Our agenda is to improve transparency and probity from theft.”
He emphasised, however, that members of the private sector are also beneficiaries of corrupt practices. He noted the existence of offshore banks and tax havens, which allow for tax evasion and money laundering.
The President added that all stakeholders, including citizens and the international community, must play a part in changing public attitudes to corruption. Granger made it clear that Government’s efforts to improve transparency and accountability would be frustrated unless all these partners work together.
Goolsarran’s third book on display.
“So merely criticizing the government does not ensure (reduction) in corruption. “Be vigilant, not only against the abuse of power, but also the breach of trust in the private sector. Members of the public are also complicit in acts of corruption.”
“We know that planes land in the dead of the night and bring cocaine into this country. It is not just the government’s duty to know these things. Sometimes people put up huge buildings. You pass late and see them empty. And you want to know the purpose of this huge building. But (they) have to find something to do with the money.”
Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, also addressed the gathering. He hailed Goolsarran for the role he played in Guyana in his field of accountability. Ramjattan flagged Goolsarran as the man who gave him advice in the past on certain fiscal matters, which allowed him to make representation in parliament.
“As Auditor General (when a new Government took over in 1992), he ensured that we knew the status report of these units and departments, so that we could understand at that time what we were entering into,” Ramjattan said.
“And what this book does, (with reference to) the abuses of contingencies, our financial implications of proroguing parliament, we have a little encyclopedia that we can fall back on to find out how to deal with it.”
“It might not have all (or) the perfect answers, but what this book does, at least, is set the thought processes into coming up with a solution that is far superior to what we have.”
Ramjattan also spoke about the current plethora of forensic audits, expressing pride in the decision the Government took to launch them last year. He stated that with these reports, government literally had a status report of what it took over.
“That is very important. A lot of people feel that we are not doing sufficient. But the idea was to know what the stock was. It was a stock taking. And for that I am really proud. He has done some major ones and he has done them so professionally.”
Goolsarran’s almost 500-page book contains a collection of articles from his ‘Accountability Watch’ weekly column in Stabroek News. It provides an in depth but simply written analysis of the issues Guyana has had with accountability and governance for years.
This book is his third publication on the subject, following ‘Public accountability at the cross roads: The Guyana Experience’ published last year and ‘Improving public accountability: The Guyana experience 1985-2007’ published in 2010.
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