Latest update April 17th, 2025 8:39 PM
Taxpayers should have access to contracts if their money is involved – TIGI Head
By: Kiana Wilburg
If taxpayers’ moneys are involved in a national project, then it is only reasonable for them to be able to know the inner workings of the contracts governing the use of those moneys.
This perspective was recently put forward by Head of Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI), Dr. Troy Thomas, in an interview with Kaieteur News.
The anticorruption advocate opined that it does not make sense that government officials are able to know about these contracts and the taxpayers are left in the dark.
He believes that this state of affairs needs to be changed.
Some of the contracts which are yet to be released despite several requests by the media in the past two years include those with BaiShanLin Forest Development Inc, Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc. and the contract governing the Sanata Complex deal and the Marriott Hotel.
“Our position on contracts is that we shouldn’t have secret contracts. You can make exceptions for security issues because those are sensitive but why should the Marriott Contract be secret? Anything where taxpayers’ moneys are being used should not be subject to secrecy. Why are people in government so privileged to know about it and we, who are putting the money there and put them in the seat of government can’t know what it is?
“That does not make any sense. So that is an important issue for transparency. The more people are aware of these things, the more scrutiny a government can come under, and the less likely you are going to have certain things happening, corrupt acts happening.”
“I am not saying it is going to wipe it out but it is certainly going to make it much more difficult. So the refusal to release those things could be questioned,” the University of Guyana lecturer added.
TIGI Head, Dr. Troy Thomas
Dr. Thomas said that of course, the Government could say that the law does not require them to release those things. He noted however, if one is really serious about such issues, moves would be made to address the laws which would support the release of contracts.
It has been over two years, and the Government is yet to release a number of contracts and concession agreements which have been requested by the media. This is in spite of the fact that President David Granger had cleared the way for this to be done.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon at his post-cabinet press briefing on Thursday last, was told that members of the media have been calling for the release of concession agreements for a number of companies in Guyana. But these are yet to be released, even though media operatives were told before that they can be made available.
The Cabinet Secretary had said, “I cannot say anything about it. It is a matter which has been brought to the attention of the government that these are contracts that are required. I am sure if the appropriate authorities are written to, (it would reveal that) a lot of these contracts you can’t just ask for and get.”
“There is a process by which you get access to these contracts. But I cannot say with respect to the contracts why they are not released and where they are, but I believe that any contract (in the field of timber and the like) will have to be at the Ministry of Finance. That is where it should be.”
Apart from the Head of State giving the permission for contracts to be released, his sentiments have also been echoed in the past by Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.
He had said that information regarding any aspect of the concessions granted to foreign and/or local companies under the past regime is not a state secret.
Jordan said that the media, or any member of the public for that matter, have a right to know how the nation has benefitted in this regard. He reiterated that data on such subjects should not be treated as “state secrets”.
The Finance Minister had said, “I have said it before and I will say it again, the public and the media have a right to know what is going on in the country. It is reasonable for taxpayers to want to know what the government of the day is doing in various sectors. It is even more reasonable for them to question how members within various sectors are operating, and operated during a certain period.”
Jordan added, “We need a society that questions what is going on and if the taxpayers ask for information, once it does not conflict with the laws of the land, then it should be made known. I believe that they have a responsibility to do so. These things are not state secrets, so make it known.”
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