Corruption thrives in secret places

Apr 05, 2018 Editorial, Features / Columnists

The concept of open data has been gaining momentum among local governments in recent years, but some cling stubbornly to the culture of opacity.
Open data refers to the process by which governments disclose information that is relevant to citizens and stakeholders in the public domain. This is crucial as it injects more transparency into governance, thereby making administrators more accountable.
Opening up documents, budgets and decisions also helps spread awareness about government processes among citizens, thus giving them a sense of ownership and participation.
There are countries that have taken some strides towards openness. Guyana has enacted the Freedom of Information Act. But such transparency has largely been restricted because no member of the public has ever been able to access anything through the Freedom of Information Act. One now wonders whether the Act was mere window dressing to perhaps cover the deeds of people in high office.
Guyana’s move toward openness has come to the fore. There has been the release of the oil contracts, something that is still a secret in neighbouring Trinidad after more than one hundred years.
But there is still much more to be achieved when it comes to openness. The previous government refused to disclose anything of national interest, citing confidentiality clauses.
Political leaders who should be leading by example too prefer to hide behind closed doors. Municipal councillors do not disclose related party interests, making it near impossible for citizens to grasp whether political decisions are influenced by conflict of interest.
Contrast this with London where the pecuniary interests of each councillor are openly available on the website of the Greater London Authority, with a detailed break-up of contracts and corporate ties they may hold or sponsorship they may have received.
Then compare this with Guyana where public officials refuse to disclose their assets to the Integrity Commission, and they do so with impunity.
A lack of information isn’t the only hurdle towards building effective citizen-government ties. Community participation too is seriously wanting. Citizens rarely know where or how the city council and the other municipalities spend the money it collects by way of taxes.
Guyana needs laws mandating public disclosure but this would be a pipe dream. Even now there is talk about this government being corrupt. People do not need the evidence but they need a forum to question their officials. They want their officials to account for any newfound wealth.
This opacity is dismal at a time when cities across the world are investing all energies in open government practices. Participatory budgeting in municipal budgets was initiated as way back as 1989 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and nearly 1,000 cities including Montreal, Seville, Chicago and NYC have used it since.
Chicago was one of the first municipalities to appoint a chief data officer in 2012 and discloses useful data including boundaries of beat police officials, the status of pothole repairs, and city-owned land inventory.
“The city will post online and in easy-to-use formats the information that Chicagoans need most. For example, complete budget documents will be available in straightforward and searchable formats. The city’s website will allow anyone to track and find information on lobbyists and what they are lobbying for as well as which government officials they have lobbied,” promised Mayor Rahm Emanuel in his elaborately laid out Chicago transition plan of 2011.
New York took a similar step with the council approving a local law that required agencies to open up all their data by 2018. Guyana may need to go this route. After all, the public needs to know.

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