-latest Transparency International survey
Guyana still ranks among the most corrupt countries, slipping three places on the Transparency International (TI) 2008 Corruption Percep-tion Index (CPI) released yesterday.
In a survey of 180 countries, Guyana fell to 126 with a score of 2.6 out of 10. It is the lowest ranked English-speaking Caribbean nation on the list and the second lowest ranked Caricom territory behind Haiti.
Based in Germany, TI is a non governmental organization working to root out corruption. The CPI measures the perceived levels of corruption among public officials and politicians in countries, based on different expert and business surveys. Four surveys were used to determine Guyana’s score.
President Bharrat Jagdeo has consistently criticised the number of indicators that have been used to assess Guyana in the past as well as the sources responsible for the data.
For the Caribbean, St. Lucia ranked highest at 21 with a rating of 7.1, followed by Barbados at 22 with a 7.0 rating and St. Vincent and the Grenadines at 28 with a rating of 6.5. Cuba (65), Suriname (72), Trinidad and Tobago (72), Jamaica (96) and the Dominican Republic (102) also received higher ratings.
Guyana shares its ranking with seven other countries: Indonesia, Honduras, Ethio-pia, Uganda, Libya, Eritrea and Mozambique.
Professor Johann Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau, who carries out the Index for TI, said an improvement in the CPI by one point (on the 10-point scale) increases capital inflows by 0.5% of a country’s gross domestic product and average incomes by as much as 4%.
Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand shared the highest score on the index at 9.3, while Haiti at 1.4, Iraq and Myanmar at 1.3 and Somalia at 1.0 were deemed the most corrupt.
In an official statement, TI said persistently high corruption in low-income countries amounts to an ongoing humanitarian disaster that cannot be tolerated. “In the poorest countries, corruption levels can mean the difference between life and death, when money for hospitals or clean water is in play,” Huguette Labelle, Chair of Trans-parency International, was quoted as saying in the statement.
TI said whether in high or low-income countries, the challenge of reigning in corruption requires functioning societal and governmental institutions. Poorer countries are often plagued by corrupt judiciaries and ineffective parliamentary oversight, it said. On the other hand, wealthy countries show evidence of insufficient regulation of the private sector, particularly in terms of addressing overseas bribery by their countries, and weak oversight of financial institutions and transactions. “Stemming corruption requires strong oversight through parliaments, law enforcement, independent media and a vibrant civil society,” Labelle said. “When these institutions are weak, corruption spirals out of control with horrendous consequences for ordinary people and for justice and equality in societies more broadly.”
TI also said that in low-income countries, rampant corruption jeopardises the global fight against poverty and threatens to derail the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to its 2008 Global Corruption Report, unchecked levels of corruption would add US$50 billion or nearly half of annual global aid outlays to the cost of achieving the MDG on water and sanitation. As a result, it is urging a redoubling of efforts in low-income countries, where the welfare of significant portions of the population hangs in the balance. It is also calling for a more focused and coordinated approach by the global donor community to ensure development assistance is designed to strengthen institutions of governance and oversight in recipient countries, and that aid flows are fortified against abuse and graft.
Seems like u anti govt bloggers is having a field day . TI is not a transparent organisation, how can they judge a country , they are only working with the opposition, they dont take evidence from progressive people or organisations that is why stabroek made it their headline
coolieman stop the nonsense, and accept the facts.
coolieman. What happen man, yo shame? Is this cross too heavy for you to carry? I feel your pain. Ow man, no one is perfect. Not even the PPP.
I don’t care for the ppp or the pncr . But i know one thing for sure, Guyana is very corrupt. And both races are guilty of corruption. Ps look what happen to the cop in Berbice, he found out corruption dose not pay.
The govt. ought to refuse money from drug dealers, stop persecuting innocent civillians, stop giving their friends a slap on the wrist for their crimes & stop putting pressure on the freedom of expression & squeezing the independent media, take their head out of the sand & accept that Guyana in a corrupt society, stop the nepotism, employing their friends & denying qualified personnel the right to a job e.g. the removal of a career diplomat like Mrs. M. C. Miles from our embassy in Brazil to put Nawbatt……….
NEED I GO ON OR CAN YOU FIGURE OUT THE REST ON YOUR OWN???????
who is innocent they are prosecutin? name one
ehh ! what’s up doc ? ,, chomp ,, chew ,,chew ,,,, eh looks like since i cam eback from de queens england an told all ahyee how i saw de men playng criket allahyee has now bcome spin bowlers ,, ok ,, juss so yuh know spin bowling frum what i learned has a purpose ,, and that purpose is too either contain de man with de bat ,, or else remove him !,,,,
so make sure u go to de queens englind an wiel yee dare vist the places of learning ,, like oxford ,, and cambride ,, and u must got o de libraries !,,,,,,,
The more i read the comments on many issues in guyana, the more i come to the realization that Guyana has a race problem and the two major races. indo guyanese and afro guyanese need to stop the foolish finger pointing and race baiting and realize that in this changing global economy a country such as guyana with less than a million people will get no where unless they come together and find a sensible media.This is 2008 and we cant go back and fix anything that has past but corruption and race baiting is not the answer stop pointing fingers and come up with a solution all you political pundits.
i agree with you, reality.
Oh & another thing the govt can do in “the land of many waters” is to approve for flush toilets in the outlying area schools so we do not lose our young minds to cesspit accidents.
Not that I think any form of approval is necessary but…….. just saying
Cronyism and nepotism in Guyana is now institutionalized.
The report is an accurate indicator of Guyana, we who live here know this is so.
Transparency International is respected worldwide and is quoted by the MSM of all Democratic Countries including the BBC and CNN
Stop the hocus pocus people every country as levels of corruption. Stop the blame game pnc vs. ppp. They all allow corruption. There is corruption in the USA too when taxpayers money is used to bailout wall street where CEO’s of big companies are paid millions of dollars and the working are left with no health care,etc.
Thank heavens Trinidad is corrupt free…..lets all go there to live..ooooo we might be kidnapped though ehehehehe
Jhonny I didnt see weh he put Trinidad….unless my evil eyes deceivin me….oh i c he mentioned US……oooops my fault…… I didnt know Trinidad is US……wow…….nah they cant drag me in de dog pund like macky….i too expensive to teck out de dog pound ehehehehe
So what else is new!! Poverty and greed tend to bring out the best and the worst in human nature.
They are a lot of people on this blog that aired great points and some of them are fast a sleep or they are in la la land like Satish who said that the country made progress, may be they made it in your home, sorry to say that but you need to name some of the progress that the PPP made.
Mr. Jagdeo is a ashamed to admit to the survey that is out by the TransparenCy
International, he is fully aware that Guyana oh beautiful Guyana is very veryyyyyyy
corrupt and the bribes that most of the people take there is not funny. I do hope that this article would do some justice to the country and they would get a grip of themselves and get with the program to make some great improvments
Dear Editor, I know that you’ll recall me asking for the ‘Polograph Testing’ to be conducted at all levels of government in an attemp to rid Guyana of corruption or at lease have some form of control over it. I still strongly recomend this testing be done so that the next time the list is out, Guyana will no longer appear on it. THANK