Dear Editor,
We can argue, until the cows come home and pigs learn to fly, that Transparency International’s (TI) 2008 Corruption Perception Index is inaccurate or unfair but it may be congruous with Guyana’s image in the region and in the wider world particularly among the private sector business communities.
That said, a Perception Index is exactly what it says… a rating based on perception. Perceptions cannot be relied upon and tend to be based on highly interpretive observations, anecdotes, impressions, value judgements, gossip and propaganda. I have no idea how TI receives its perceptions but surmise that it is a combination of all, or some, of the above. Your editorial of SN 29 September 2008 captioned `The Transparency International report’ mentions persons who might have been interviewed for the purposes of the survey. Such persons are the key to the integrity of the survey.
Many years ago at the Ducor Hotel in Monrovia, Liberia I met a Human Rights rapporteur, Jean-Louis, who boasted that he wrote up most of his reports without ever leaving the comfort of the hotel. This rapporteur represented a French organisation and had responsibility for close to 30 countries in North, West and Central Africa. The evening of the day I first met the rapporteur I saw him in the hotel bar with an obvious lady of the night. When he winked at me conspiratorially and whispered “au boulot” (“off to work I go”) I realized he was trying to tell me that she was one of his sources. Had he been engaged in an economic survey I would have considered him resourceful in obtaining first hand information on the availability and levels of disposable income in Liberia.
Around the same time, I befriended Leon the Washington Post correspondent who had responsibility for more or less the same countries I covered in Africa. Leon and I often bumped into each other in villages and small town streets in remote parts of various African countries. We frequently exchanged information and updated each other on a range of topics usually economic, social or political. Leon was very well informed. In short, Leon spoke to everyone …from the popular barber in the inner city slum to the fish vendor in the village market to the government minister and captain of industry. In consequence he developed a broad understanding and perspective of all aspects of life in the countries he covered.
Savvy investors as your editorial says will consult a multiplicity of sources about the investment climate here.
Their interest in corruption levels per se tends often to be marginal as corruption may be relegated to the cost of doing business. Of greater interest to investors is their personal security, the level of bureaucracy, fairness and efficiency in the judicial system and in dealings with the government and also the quality of governance. For authentic, reliable and realistic readings of the investment climate savvy investors will always seek out an investor of comfort who has walked the road they are about to take. The investor of comfort will then inform if the road ahead is smooth, bumpy, potholed or simply covered with craters and impassable.
The type of investor who, by force of circumstances, has to rely for information on surveys, reports and indices will, if he is savvy, want to know if the information at hand was prepared by a Jean-Louis or a Leon.
Yours faithfully,
F Hamley Case
