Time for action

Nov 17, 2025 Editorial, News

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Editorial…

Kaieteur News – When Gail Teixeira, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, stood before an anti‑corruption workshop this week and declared that “every dollar lost to corruption is a road or school stolen,” she spoke a truth that resonates deeply with the people of this country. Yet the ringing words echo hollowly when measured against the decaying reality of our institutions, the brazen enrichment of those in power, and a government that too often appears unwilling—or unable—to prosecute a single major case of corrupt officials.

The latest report from Transparency International (TI) makes for grim reading. Guyana’s score slipped from 40 to 39 and our ranking dropped to 92 out of 180 countries. TI paints a clear picture: “In Guyana, state capture by economic and political elites fosters misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crime. Although the country has created anti‑corruption institutions and laws, transparency and law enforcement are very low.”

If Minister Teixeira truly believes her own words, then she must accept that the government she serves is now failing the public. The very forces she pledged to confront appear instead to be envied, protected and proliferating. For years, our reporting has catalogued how billion‑dollar contracts are awarded to friends and families of ministers, how state lands are handed out like favours, how public procurement becomes a playpen for insiders.

The contradiction is jarring. On the one hand, a minister says the stolen dollar is a stolen school; on the other hand, the machinery of government appears to shield the thieves. While Teixeira complains of “soundbites,” the rest of us quiver at the daily litany of leaked documents, stories of front companies, conflicted interests and impunity. The TI report laments that law enforcement “is very low” and that dissenting voices face intimidation.

We cannot ignore that this is not abstract. It is brutally tangible. When contracts meant to build roads vanish into sub‑standard work. When classrooms are incomplete. When oil‑revenues swell the coffers of a tiny political and business elite, while teachers, nurses and farmers see little change. As one previous Kaieteur News editorial put it: “under the PPP/C government important questions in Parliament were often dodged, audits delayed, and whistle‑blowers intimidated.”

Minister Teixeira is correct: every dollar lost to corruption is a road or school stolen. But how many more roads must crack, how many more schools must leak before we stop with the rhetoric and demand action? The truth is, leadership at the top must shift. Words alone are not enough.

If the government is serious — then it must:

1. Openly support and empower independent institutions: the Anti‑Corruption Commission, the Special Organised Crime Unit, the Auditor General’s office must be not only independent, but resourced and free from political interference.
2. Prioritise real prosecutions: It is not enough to issue statements. Citizens must see ministers, senior officials and their cronies in court, facing justice. No more cosy settlements or quiet resignations.
3. Improve transparency in procurement, land allocation and resource management: Especially as the oil‑boom expands, ensuring resources benefit the many rather than the few is critical. TI warns that corruption now threatens our climate‑action efforts and environment.
4. Protect whistle‑blowers and the press: The report stresses that attacks on dissenting voices are “increasingly common.” A healthy democracy cannot survive if fear silences scrutiny.
5. Link the ministerial rhetoric to measurable outcomes: When Teixeira speaks of stolen schools, then the Ministry of Education must report on each instance of diverted funds, and the government must publish clear figures on infrastructure built, funds recovered, and prosecutions made.

We write this not simply out of frustration, but out of hope. This country has enormous potential — its people are smart, resilient, creative. The oil discovery could have been a blessing; instead, it risks becoming another curse if governance fails. TI’s warning is urgent. Guyana cannot continue drifting silently downward.

The ordinary Guyanese knows it: the problem starts at the top. When the President or Vice President have no credible response to allegations, when ministers and their associates shuffle from contract to board‑seat to tender without oversight, then corruption becomes institutionalised. An earlier Kaieteur News editorial said: “When tendering and procuring are a maze of contradictions … that is corruption.”

Minister Teixeira must know that citizens are tired. They are weary of declarations, speeches and promises. They want visible change. They want to know: How many officials have been indicted this year? How many contracts reviewed? How many funds recovered? How many schools actually built instead of planned?

If those questions go unanswered, then her promise and will ring hollow. Because a stolen dollar is indeed a stolen road. And a nation cannot build with stolen roads.

It is time for more than words. It is time for action.

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• Gail Teixeira, International, Kaieteur News, Parliamentary Affairs, Transparency, Vice President

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