-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.