The ultimate pledge against crime and corruption

Jul 03, 2016 News

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By: Kiana Wilburg
Within the borders of the Philippines, a blunt-speaking, 71-year-old man who apparently cannot stand the sight or the tiniest hint of corruption was sworn in a few days ago as that nation’s 16th President.
So disgusted is Rodrigo Duterte with corruption in his homeland, he had boldly told his people in January, last, during his campaign for the presidency, that if he fails to bust crime and corruption in six months after being elected, then they should kill him – one would say it is the ultimate pledge.
It is believed that Duterte’s lack of concern for being politically correct and his iron-fist approach to solving crime is what really catapulted him to the presidency.
Duterte said that to accomplish such a mission within the first six months of his term in office would be his “greatest contribution” to the country. Now all are now watching to see if he can walk the walk.
Like most, I was captivated, to say the least, by the President’s sensational yet no-nonsense commitment to purge his country of all forms of corruption. He appears to be a principled person that will not be compromised. His sentiments also made me reflect on the hunger here for a massive corruption clean-up campaign.
Without fear of contradiction, I would boldly assert that this nation has been starved of the kind of leadership, which at its core, is permanently energised by the need to curb corruption – much like that which appears to have possessed Duterte.
Since the APNU+AFC Coalition took office, a series of initiatives have been started to help stem the ever-growing corruption tide. And for those who hoped for years to brainwash the nation with sermons that corruption in Guyana was nothing but a perception, a tale, a figment of our imagination, then surely the record was set straight with the unimaginable revelations of those damning forensic audit reports. More of those are still to come.
And then there was the creation of the State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) which is headed by economist Dr. Clive Thomas.
This Unit has been heavily criticised for handling corruption cases involving assets of the state while it is not governed or guided by legislation.
Dr. Thomas acknowledged the shortcoming, but recently emphasised that with the help of certain international and local agents, the loophole is about to be closed.
In fact, he revealed that the draft legislation is with the Chambers of Attorney General (AG) Basil Williams, and is expected to be placed on the website of that office no later than this week.
It is hoped that it will encourage meaningful discussions, be amended where necessary and passed in the National Assembly before the end of the year. Once this is done, it is expected that SARU would become the anti-corruption agency for fighting all forms of corruption involving the assets of the state. It would also be renamed the State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA).
SARU is currently housed within the Ministry of the Presidency and once its legislation receives smooth passage, Thomas indicated that it would be moving into a new home.
In the meantime, SARU is making strong connections with some of the world’s leading anti-corruption fighters. One such connection is with FRAUDNET.
This entity is an international network of independent lawyers who are the leading civil asset recovery specialists in various countries around the world. Its membership extends to every continent and the world’s major economies, as well as leading offshore wealth havens that have complex bank secrecy laws and institutions where the proceeds of fraud are often hidden.
It has also been recognised as the world’s leading asset recovery legal network. Additionally, FRAUDNET’s focus is locating and recovering assets and proceeds of crime for victims of all types of fraud, including corruption, embezzlement and Ponzi schemes. Great things are expected from this partnership.
But even though SARU is making strides and the necessary preparations are being made to bring down the intellectual authors of rampant corruption involving state corruption, Government’s efforts to fight corruption would still have to be intensified in other areas such as Public Procurement.
This area is said to be plagued by all sorts and forms of corruption. In fact, Government had promised that within 100 days of being in office, it would have established the Public Procurement Commission (PPC). Time and circumstances proved that this was easier said than done.
The establishment of the Commission, and its timeliness at that, is left in the hands of the Public Accounts Committee of our Parliament. It is chaired by Opposition Member, Irfaan Ali. At this stage, the Committee is still in the process of going through the names of the nominations for Commissioners for the PPC.
Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, who had spoken extensively on the matter, had said umpteen times that the weak systems of the tender board process need to be addressed by the new administration, as those loopholes cost the country approximately $28B annually.
Goolsarran’s estimation was garnered from an overview of the Auditor General’s reports on the country’s accounts over the past few years.
He had also pointed to credible allegations of corrupt behaviour in public procurement. These included sole sourcing of drug contracts, contract splitting, inflated engineer’s estimates, evaluation bias on behalf of favoured contractors, the use of inexperienced contractors, the absence of competitive bidding in some cases, and over payment to contractors.
With Government’s establishment of a formal Bid Protest Committee, it is left to see how effectively this is going to be, in bringing an end to some of the obscenities that have plagued Guyana’s procurement systems.
It is noteworthy that Government is yet to lay out before the nation, its concise plan for launching a clear-cut attack that will strike at the heart of corruption in Guyana. If that is still in the making, then the citizenry deserves to know where such a plan is at this point, who are the craftsmen and women behind such a plan, and who or what agency/agencies will be implementing it.

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