Guyana is not, strictly speaking, a banana republic. Yes, we have had our fair share of authoritarian rule, electoral fraud, plantation economics and endemic corruption, but we have been spared the anarchy, bloodshed and political instability of coups d’état and revolutionary movements.
But there is no room for complacency; we have only to consider the prevalent culture of lawlessness at almost every level of society, the pervasiveness of the narcotics scourge, the frequency of violent crime and our ranking at 126 out of 180 countries, for the second straight year, according to the 2009 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index, to realise that we may well be on the way to banana republic status.
For those who would pooh-pooh the TI Index, arguing that it is based on perception and therefore not a reliable measure of corruption, we can only ask why they think that perception has lumped us with Syria and Tanzania, and not far behind Trinidad, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Argentina and Bolivia in Latin America and the Caribbean. Indeed, what is it about Guyana that places us in the league of the most corrupt when our sister Caricom country, Barbados, is regarded as among the 20 least corrupt countries in the world? Why, even little St Lucia, St Vincent and Dominica are respectably and respectively ranked at 22, 31 and 34. What is it about our governance, our respect for the rule of law, the enforcement of the law by our judiciary and police force, our upholding of basic human rights, our investment climate, our way of conducting business, our management systems, our moral values, that leads some people to believe that we are corrupt, venal and inefficient? We must be doing something wrong.
On the other hand, we need only look as far as Barbados to try to determine what it is that they are doing right. Of course, we should note, in passing, that this may be controversial or even unacceptable to some, since the current government in Barbados is trying to rid the island of illegal immigrants, many of them Guyanese, whom they perceive to be an unnecessary burden on their social services and their economy, notwithstanding the fact that they are a source of cheap labour.
There is no doubt though that Barbados enjoys relative social, economic and political stability, and this appears to be largely based on Barbadians’ inherent respect for the rule of law and an understanding of what is necessary to facilitate investment and commerce and, by extension, growth and development.
Barbados has a transparent investment policy, competitive tax incentives, no restrictions on foreign ownership of businesses, limited foreign exchange controls, institutional frameworks that allow for the supervision and regulation of the international business and financial services sector, and double taxation treaties and tax information exchange provisions. This is a clear reflection of the efforts of the Barbados government, including the passing of relevant legislation, to make the island an attractive destination for international enterprises.
Also, following years of sustained investment in the education and health sectors, as an integral component of meeting the challenges of surviving as a small state with limited natural resources in the age of globalization and transforming the country’s economy, Barbados has a well-educated, trainable and healthy workforce.
In addition, Barbados boasts a well-developed telecommunications and transport infrastructure, reliable electricity and water supply, efficient public services, minimal red tape, especially with regard to the establishment of businesses and customs procedures, and almost as a natural consequence, an extremely low level of corruption.
All of the above contributes to the creation of a climate of trust and confidence, which is admittedly not an easy thing to measure. But even if a fraction of the anecdotal evidence available is to be believed, along with the available economic data and human development and competitiveness indices, then clearly, Barbados is open for legitimate business and is doing better than Guyana in socio-economic terms.
It is generally accepted that developing countries tend to have problems of inefficiency and corruption because of a combination of factors: weak state institutions, political patronage, the absence of checks and balances in the form of an independent judiciary for example, inadequate legal frameworks to enforce contracts and define property rights, and low wages and poverty, to name a few.
We could go on and on, identifying the problems, but we really need to be working on the solutions. If Barbados can do so, why can’t we? After all, we’re not a banana republic, are we?
