Essence of governance in Guyana

Dec 18, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – On every occasion that we think we can stop talking and writing about corruption in this country, and address other vital areas of life in Guyana, we end up being drawn back into what sickens and enrages. That is, more corruption in almost every place that qualifies as the public sector. Corruption in Guyana more than a culture, or a cancer, it is both of those forming what is now the national religion. This is what the recent Auditor General report confirmed about what is happening in this country, where the public purse is involved, with all kinds of shenanigans taking place with endless millions of dollars. It is accurate to say that corruption is governance and governance is corruption, and little else.
What the Audit Office found at two state overseen entities provides an insight as to how governments here play tricks with money that the taxpayers have put in their hands, and which comes out of the same taxpayers’ pockets. It could be VAT or income tax, or duty and fees put on goods imported, among other things. And there is another area of massive proportions, which would be the debt incurred on behalf of the people of Guyana to get their work done, and their standard of living enhanced. Borrowings from the IDB and China, to name two places only, are a monster all by themselves, with the accumulated debt growing daily.
What is seen, as embedded in Audit Office reports are two exploits now well practiced in some government circles by corrupt public service people, where big money is involved, and which gain more prominence. The first is that there are no records for millions spent, with an example being the Demerara Harbour Bridge and the Asphalt Plant. If there is no supporting documentation, then reconciling and drilling down to check for frauds is a huge problem. The substances are not present for proper probing. It is deliberate, with the objective of covering the tracks of the crooked and thwarting the efforts of auditors.
The second area identified by the Audit Office was at the Data Management Authority prompting the Auditor General to conclude that ‘the systems are weak, and that they can be ‘altered, corrupted, or destroyed.’ COVID-19 relief money was involved, which meant millions. When supporting systems are so flawed, then the best that can be said is that incompetent people are in the pilot’s seat; with the worst being that this is how they want it (‘weak’ and susceptible to being ‘altered, corrupted, or destroyed’). For then, the political and public service scoundrels can keep milking the corruption cow, without worry of any consequences.
Thus, the pattern goes on: make a speech about how much is spent, put or leave dirty friends near big money, exploit or create loopholes for fraud, pretend ignorance of what happened, and ignore audit findings and recommendations. This leaves the new year to continue the thefts. When corrupt officers, be they elected or selected, are in positions of power, clean public servants prefer to see nothing and say nothing. It is simply a matter of commonsense and career survival. Silence by the day converts to a pay cheque at the end of the month. The true professionals, the ones with some residual ethics still left (and backbone) must pretend at ignorance to ensure their continuity and doing justice to the saying that silence is golden.
The uncertainty and uneasiness, sometimes fear, instilled facilitates greater exploits of trickiness that rob Guyanese. When clear breaches of basic operating procedures occur, no one speaks, for that means professional death by needless suicide. Because the government sector is such a sprawling component of Guyana’s economy and businesses, to incur the wrath of powerful people means that the door to government work is slammed shut. Also, there is the legitimate concern by many qualified and long serving Guyanese public servants that, since the private sector that matters is so closely linked to government here, even landing a job there could be extremely difficult. So, the standing preference today by honest workers is not to see and not to know. Hence, the next audit reports will have more of the same skullduggeries and costly corruptions.

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Essence of governance in Guyana

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