-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.
For Guyana to be placed down at the bottom of the list of the most corrupted countries is no surprise when you look at the events occurring in the country over the past decade. government officials in bed with drug dealers and murders, the rampant incidences of child abuse, a health care system that is non existent, a higher education system that is manipulated by the powers that be, the lack of basic infrastructure, lack of legislation to protect the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, the ongoing brain drain of the most brilliant intellectuals and professionals and the list goes on and on – But what the heck – let’s get foreigners to come and invest in Guyana, let’s make Guyana the ultimate eco tourist destination, let’s be the lone one taking a stand on protecting the caribbean on matters of economic sustainability – it’s sounds totally illogical to me – but then when it comes to the affairs in Guyana – logic goes out the window!!!
Did we need a report to tell us Guyana’s Officials are corrupt?
I dread doing legal business in Guyana, the amount of bribing one has to do makes me feel dirty and used at the end of the day. It seems like not a single person in a Government position will not accept or outright ask for a bribe in order for you to have a positive outcome in your affrairs.
Where does this guy who sits in Germany get his logic from, Poverty breeds crime in poor countries, so for the donor countries who are measuring their assistance by his benchmark, they have the cart before the horse.
Greed breeds crime in rich countries, where does the USA sit on his measurement scale.
This coming friday will be a day in infamy, it is the day when the bankers led by Hanky Panky Paulson, persuades, the US government to give away all of the assets of the American people, to the banking establishment, for free, so that they can live to rob another day.
Joe.
Joe dont enlighten them…..They only see it one way and one country.Guyana that is….They forget to tell us what you said….ehehehe let then think that poverty breed crimes….They dont know about Bay and Wall Sts boys….shhhhhhhhhhh ehehehe
Joe. Take off your shades. America has corrupt situations, plenty of them, but America is not a corrupt COUNTRY. Guyana is a corrupt COUNTRY. Every day, is a day of infamy in Guyana. We do not need the the Guy from Germany to get the facts or logic. They are so blatant, that only a bigot will not comprehend them. There is much to debate about CAUSE AND EFFECT. BUT LET US STICK TO THE TOPIC. Guyana is a corrupt country. If you have facts to dispute this, then state them and stop being an apologist for the corruption in GUYANA. Please, it’s time to stop the spin and face theTRUTH. GUYANA IS CORRUPT.
Were you in the army Coxall?
Why all this fuss! We always knew that Guyana is a corrupt country. No use trying to block the sunlight with a strainer, Guyana is what it is, a corrupt country! When I go there, my stay is short, so I pay what is necessary to get my things done. I guess paying bribes makes me corrupt too, what can I do? I live in the real world! Most people who visit Guyana know what I am talking about.
i am sorry to say, guyana is not the most corrup country in
the world that is bull.
what about america, germany, england holland, and a lot more.
don,t forget , they were our teacher, guyana is a land of many
race, why is that so, all the different races, because we were
brought there by the west, they though us how to servive,
now there are going to say we are corrupt,
who are they to say,
guyanies walk with your head high and be proud.
we can.t begin to corrup, we tried and that what bring
fear in the west.
JOE COXALL
MY FRIEND YOU ARE RIGHT, I WILL LIKE TO SEE THIS
GERMAN MY SELF, BECAUSE I AM LIVEING IN ONE OF THOESE
COUNTRY MY SELF I SEE A LOT AND LEARN A LOT
WHAT I SEE THEY ARE MORE CORRUP THAN IN GUYANA
WHAT ,they do forget that we get it from them, they were our teacher.
the WEST.
Thank you again my dear Eloise, I see you are all fired up. way to go girlfriend.
Joe.
FORBES MOORE
YOU ARE THE ONE WHO NEADS GLASSES BECAUSE JOE IS
RIGHT I DO WANT TO SEE THIS PERSON MY SELF
DON,T YOU FORGET WE LEARN IT FROM THEM,
THEY WERE OUR TEACHER.
DID YOU FORGET SLAVERRIE, AMERICA , GERMANNY, ENGLAND,
NEDERLANDS.
I AM IN THE NEDERLAND,S FOR 30 YEARS, I SEE A LOT
AND LEARN A LOT, WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH DRUG,S EVERY
DAY, AND CRIME. SO GUYANA HAS NOT COME CLOSE TO THEM
THE TEACHER IS ALL WAY,S AFRAID OF THE STUDENT
eloise. TWO WRONGS DO NOT ONE RIGHT. CORRUPTION IS CORRUPTION.
Eloise, I find ithard to follow your thinking and expresions, but having read that you are 30 years out of Guyana, I see how disillusioned you are in grappling
with the reality of the real Guyana.
Your constant harping on “teacher” is sad, for if you want to press the concept
of teacher, think of the astronaughts, the physicists, the surgeons, the
computer wizards,….just think: they developed way above their teachers at all
levels from kindergarten to university. Teachers set the thought processes in
action for the better. Just ponder on that and try to get away from the limitation
of your “teacher cconcept”.
Guyanese were not taught to be corrupt. They developed that way as a societal change based on the reality of life.
You folks have flogged this topic and in the process many pushed the
boundaries of credibility that what seems to be so is not so.
The calculation basis seems to be of great importance and of course those of
an obvious political leaning pounced upon it as being suspect à la Presee
Oddly no one sems to grapple with the fact that corruption is and has been
a way of life for time immemorial.It is the extent of that corruption that is
of importance
I do not have the modus operandi of the report gathering, but if it is as I have
in the past known of other reports, they are based on random selections of
people for interview, reviews of Court cases, reviews of political debates,
awards of contracts and discussions with donor agencies which in the
main have to bribe officials to get projects started.
This wolud be the same process for each country so in the final analysis we
have reports prepared on the same basis.
As I said, I don’t know the specific modus operandi of this organisation.
Now ALL OF YOU KNOW that if you chat with your fellow guynaese living in
Guyana or have travelled back and forth to Guyana, you will get ALMOST THE
SAME comment, ” you gat to pass money to get anyting done”.
Now project that to a stastical figure: if 15 out of 20 people have a similar
response, what would that indicate of the populace at large?
The reality is that bribery and corruption are the norms of everyday life, but in
Guyana it seems to move from “norms” to “existing conditions of guyanese life”.
Bribery and corruption are not PPP nor PNC things.
They are the mindset of the people who have to face the reality of living in
that society.
I have no problem with the report. What it says to me is that the government
should not question it but analyse and disect it and see where the
shortcomings could be corrected. By adopting a high handed dismissal
arrogant attitude simple encourages continuance of prevailing practices when
ALL AHWE KNOW DAT YOU HAVE TO PASS DE MONEY FIRST!
Thank you CARDVEECOCK, finally someone who understands the predicament and direction we need to go as a country, eloquently put sir/madam.
Corruption has been existent in Guyana since before independence. Remember it is corruption that left Guyana 2.1B US in dept, and the 2nd poorest nation in the western hemisphere behind Haiti as of 1992.
This current Govt has systems in place to impede corruption, but THE MINDSET OF THE PEOPLE HAS TO CHANGE, e.g
If you have a clean Police record, DO NOT PAY SOMEONE TO GET YOU A POLICE CLEARANCE or
If you need a Drivers Licence, GO THRU THE POLICE TRAINING THEORY/PRACTICAL TEST and obtain it (even if you do the test correctly, and you are failed..do not give up)
Follow the rules of the road, instead of speeding and having to PAY A POLICE BRIBE TO LET YOU OFF OF THE SPEEDING TICKET.
The list can go on and on..but the mindset of the GT ppl has to change, to change corruption…which includes Drug Pushing!
dis aint news de ppp and its supporters have refined the art of corruption of the years and it has become so entrenched it does not seem wrong so when it it pointed out as as such they tend to get upset for being told it is what has me surprised is that their were not last on the list
i know that two wrong does not make it right
FORBES MOORE, BUT I SEE IT EVERY DAY.
eloise. YO DE BACK IN GUYANA?