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Abuse of state resources
Editorial…
Kaieteur News- Last week in one of our editorials, we highlighted the government’s abuse of state resources to help fuel the PPP/C’s elections campaign, highlighting their use of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre to host a PPP fund-raising dinner.
Since then, we have seen the roll out of mega concerts with the full state media apparatus and other state resources being churned out to cover these events. We have seen the commissioning of half-completed projects. Schools that have been in use for close to a year are being accorded grand opening ceremonies. It is clear to everyone that all these are election campaign events camouflaged as the celebration of public projects.
At his now-infamous media engagement on Tuesday, President Ali was questioned about the abuse of state resources for elections campaigning. He said: “The People’s Progressive Party does not need state resources to run our campaign. We do not need any state resources to run our campaign. Our campaign is run by the People’s Progressive Party with all resources provided by the people of Guyana and we are strong and will defeat any force that is ahead of us.”
We have no doubt that indeed, the PPP with all the fly-by-night contractors it has enriched with multi-million dollar contracts and the wide range of other shadowy business arrangements it has entered into, does not need state resources to fund its campaign. However, the abuse continues to happen, presenting an unfair advantage to the other parties.
Several international observers over the years have warned against this abuse, but nothing has been done. For several elections here the Carter Centre had pointed out gaps in the law on campaign financing, noting that they create a weak distinction between the resources of the ruling party and the resources of the State. In a report on the 2025 elections, the Centre noted that the absence of public funding for political parties had impaired the ability of smaller parties to compete. It was stated that it will be of great significance for future electoral fairness if laws are introduced on party finances to create greater transparency.
It was considered in the report that it is a given that political parties and their candidates need financing and adequate access to resources in order to campaign and make their platforms known and available to the populace. As such, the Centre said that Guyana should put measures in place to prevent corruption, particularly in the context of campaign financing. This is important, since the country would have signed on to the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. The report had also noted that Guyana’s legal framework is weak on this matter and has contributed to inequalities between political parties.
Instead of fixing the broken system, what we are witnessing today is a doubling down on the abuse. The disrespect and contempt for Guyanese have reached new heights with this administration. Case in point, the recent revelation that it has resorted to using a US lobbying firm to smear Presidential Candidate, Azruddin Mohamed. What is also contemptuous is President Irfaan Ali denying that his government was using the lobbying firm to attack Mr. Mohamed, when the information is in black and white based on the firm’s filing in the US. What President Ali has not come to grips with is the fact that, unlike his administration’s preference for opacity in dealing with matters of the State in the US and other jurisdictions, the contract entered into by his government with the lobbying firm is a matter of public record. It should also concern him that since 2020 his government has been using the firm to lobby for them in the US, but that contract was never made available to the Guyanese public; local journalists have had to source it for themselves. It is the same thick secrecy with so many other things that are kept away from Guyanese, as though they are dark documents that will imperil this society. It is expenses that citizens have to pay, either in taxes levied later, or lesser oil profits and local content priorities that never trickle down to them. Secrecies like these are beyond explanation and lack foundation. Such secrecies are killing us.
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