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The Corruption Report

Feb 17, 2025 Editorial, News

Editorial…

Kaieteur News- Last week anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International delivered its annual report on corruption across the world.

This report provides a good insight into the individual countries’ fight against the scourge and also highlights some of the main issues affecting them. The report among other things stated that the state of Guyana has been captured by the economic and political elites, which fosters misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crimes. The report also indicated that Guyana has lost ground in the fight against corruption moving from 40 points last year to 39 this year, ranking it 92 out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perception Index.

‘In Guyana, state capture by economic and political elites fosters misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and an environmental crime,” the Transparency International report said. It added: “Although the country has created anti-corruption institutions and laws, transparency and law enforcement is very low, and attacks on dissenting voices, activists and journalists increasingly common,” the body stated in its report.

President Irfaan Ali was out of the blocks early, sparing no time to denounce the report. In dismissing the findings that law enforcement against corruption is weak in Guyana, Ali said: “Well, I don’t know that enforcement is low. I know we have the best enforcement in the region.” Further, he pushed back against international body findings arguing that there is no transparency in how the report itself is compiled. He said, “You see, the problem with Transparency International and the perception indicators is that there are a number of problems. One, who is it that they interview, they have to go in-depth.” Then he went further, saying “there’s a serious political bias for these…we have to bring accountability to these indicators because when they come here, if you are interviewing someone with a bias, if you’re interviewing someone with a political motive or a political agenda, what do you expect to get?” he stated.

Despite the President’s assertions, for many Guyanese, this assessment by the organisation is not surprising. There is corruption in high and low places in this government. We are nearing the fifth year of the PPP/C in government, which has provided a reality check in this regard for Guyanese. Despite the promises made by the PPP/C during the 2020 elections campaign, not much has been done to change the minds of Guyanese that they are a better bunch than the APNU/AFC. The same old malady that afflicted it during the 23 years it was in government prior to 2015 continues to fester. Corruption in high and low places cannot be separated from the PPP/C and the recent revelations by the United States Government, which sanctioned one of the party’s young high flyers confirmed what everyone had been talking about for years.

One of the distinctive elements of this publication’s daily output over the years has been the relentless focus of corruption in Guyana.  This has incurred the wrath of more than one government.  Over the years, national leaders have never ceased in their efforts to disagree with allegations and reports of massive corruption. Leadership disagreement has been vicious, with little energy spared to go after corrupt players and the costly practices that have resulted.  Like a cancer, corruption has infiltrated and then spread across Guyana, sickening the entire society.

The ordinary Guyanese has a strong perception that corruption is strangling this country, but little else.  US officials and local organisations and other international bodies have warned in nuanced diplomatic language that there is a dire need for serious work to be initiated to address the damage of widespread corruption, which is evident in the TI report.  The reality in Guyana is that there have been almost zero charges laid and prosecutions following for glaring breaches of the law when the friends and agents of the PPP/C Government are involved.

(The Corruption Report)

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