Latest update February 2nd, 2025 8:30 AM
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OIL AND CORRUPTION
Combating corruption is a principle that is universally acknowledged by most leaders and inter-national institutions. It has been consistently enunciated by the United Nations, the Common-wealth Secretariat, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the European Union, the G20 and G8, the IMF, the World Bank, and a host of other multilateral institutions. Studies have shown that the costs of corruption are far-reaching for developing, emerging and developed economies. 
However, for developing countries like Guyana, the magnitude of the potential for the adverse socio-economic consequences that corruption portends is substantial.It has profoundly retarded Guyana’s development.
Corruption has eroded the quality of life in Guyana by diverting public funds away from critical social necessities, such as health care, education, water supply, electricity and roads. Corruption has also led to human rights violations, distorted production, reduced investor confidence, stunted business activity, wiped out jobs and increased the price of goods and services.
It has undermined and destroyed confidence in public institutions, and enabled organized crime, illicit sale of drugs and other threats to human security to flourish. And, yes, corruption also kills.
Corruption has become a way of life in Guyana. It has enriched many, especially the political elite and has pauperized others. However, during the last election campaign, members of the opposition APNU+AFC parties criticized the PPP government for failing to stamp out corruption.
The government knows about the perils of the cancer of corruption and should act decisively and aggressively to curb it. As reported in the media, the Minister of State spoke instructively, lucidly and convincingly on the issue.
He stated that the government is concerned about the international perception that high levels of corruption still exists in the country and that it is working hard to remove or at least minimize it. Despite his assurance to the nation that the government would be transparent and would punish those found culpable of corruption, many believe otherwise.
Several studies have been undertaken in an effort to estimate the monetary costs and impact of corruption and bribery on developing countries. In 2014, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimated that the cost of corruption equals more than ten per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in developing countries, with over US$1trillion paid in bribes each year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2016 estimated that the annual cost of bribery in the developing countries is between US$1.5 trillion and US$2 trillion. The World Economic Forum has estimated that on average, corruption increases the cost of doing business by roughly 10 percent in developing countries.
Interestingly, the World Bank estimates that per-capita income increases four times in countries with high levels of corruption.
In Guyana, a clearly articulated and aggressive anti-corruption plan is needed to combat this menace and to maintain sustainable economic and human growth. Effective action such as a zero-tolerance approach and a strong rule of law are needed to curb the scourge of corruption which has infected our society.
These were the cornerstones of the economic success of Singapore which has a 6.77 percent annual GDP growth rate in 2016 compared with 2.7 percent for Guyana.
Transparency International has over the years placed Guyana among the most corrupt countries in the world and the second most corrupt in the Caribbean after Haiti. However, with the discovery of oil, the country will be placed even more under the microscope.
It has already attracted attention from multilateral institutions, countries and people, most of whom did not even know that Guyana existed.
In fact, the discovery of oil has caught the attention of the international community and one of the largest business magazines in the world—The Economist—which has not only described the government “as far from strong” but said “it will take better politicians to resist the corrosive power of petrodollars.”
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