Govt. disputes accuracy of Rule of Law Index data

Oct 31, 2025 News

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— says ranking based on outdated surveys from 2018 and 2022

(Kaieteur News) – The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance has taken issue with aspects of the recently published World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2025, which ranked Guyana 80th out of 143 countries—a two-point drop from its 2024 position.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ministry acknowledged the publication of the 2025 Index and reaffirmed Guyana’s respect for international assessment mechanisms that review governance, anti-corruption, and human rights performance. However, it cautioned that the findings of the report “cannot be construed as a real reflection of Guyana’s 2025 realities,” citing serious concerns about the age and transparency of the data used.

According to the Ministry, the Index’s methodology relies heavily on household polling and expert opinion surveys conducted between 2018 and 2022 by a little-known entity called the StatMark Group. The Ministry pointed out that “neither of these face-to-face surveys were ever made public, nor does the public know of the StatMark Group,” raising questions about the reliability of the dataset.

“The report therefore cannot be construed as a real reflection of Guyana’s 2025 realities, particularly given ongoing institutional and legislative reforms across governance and justice sectors after 2022, and certainly since 2018,” the statement noted.

The WJP report, which has been widely cited in local and international media, stated that Guyana’s overall rule of law score declined by less than one percent this year. Regionally, Guyana ranked 18th out of 32 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, with Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Barbados topping the region. The global index also claimed that Guyana, along with several other countries, has seen “a shrinking of civic freedoms” and “rising political interference” in the judiciary.

The report stated that in the last year, 24 out of 32 countries declined in Latin America and the Caribbean. Of those 24 countries, 19 had also declined in the previous year. Among high income countries, Guyana ranks 50th out of 51. According to the report, an expansion of authoritarian trends is the primary force behind the rule of law recession, with deep declines in factors measuring Constraints on Government Powers, Open Government, and Fundamental Rights.  The integrity of checks and balances has also been seriously weakened, including in Guyana, the report noted.

A characteristic of this accelerated rule of law recession is a shrinking civic space. “Freedoms crucial for public discourse and government oversight—measured under the Open Government and Fundamental Rights factors—saw widespread erosion.”

The report stated that Guyana is among the over 70% of countries experiencing a shrinking of civic freedoms: freedom of opinion and expression declined in 73% of countries, including Guyana. Freedom of assembly and association declined in 72% of countries, including Guyana and civic participation declined in 71% of countries, including Guyana, the report noted.

The Index also shows that judiciaries are losing ground to executive overreach, with rising political interference across justice systems. Indicators measuring whether the judiciary limits executive power and whether civil and criminal justice are free from improper government influence declined in 61%, 67%, and 62% of countries, respectively. This includes Guyana. More broadly, civil justice weakened in 68% of countries, but not in Guyana. This decline reflects longer delays, less effective alternatives to court (such as mediation), and greater government interference.

But the Ministry countered that such conclusions are based on unverified perceptions from anonymous sources, stating: “It cannot be that the perceptions of a few anonymous people are considered representative of the entire population of approximately 800,000. Without more rigorous sampling parameters, it is indeed difficult to validate the robustness or representativeness of the findings.”

The Ministry further argued that while global rankings make for “attractive sound bites,” they hold limited analytical value unless accompanied by nominal scores and detailed sub-factor data. “The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance encourages the media and public to consult official data sources and exercise critical review when interpreting or reproducing third-party publications, particularly in this case where the data being used is as old as seven years ago,” the statement added.

Despite its concerns, the Government said it remains open to engagement with international partners and continues to undergo scrutiny through established multilateral frameworks. These include the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) conducted by the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year. Guyana, the Ministry added, “values mechanisms that facilitate such comparative reviews, as they complement the State’s own ongoing commitments” to good governance and transparency.

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• Gail Teixeira, Index data, rule of law, World Justice Project

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