Democracy and accountability are the twin sides of the same coin. Democracy facilitates accountability which in turn facilitates development. A lack of democracy results in a lack of accountability which in turn stagnates development.
Three major events took place on the anti-corruption front in the last few days. The first was the release of Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which placed Guyana at 124 out of 175 countries surveyed, with a score of 30 out of 100. This represents a slight improvement over 2013, when Guyana scored 27 from 136 out of 177 countries. However, we still continue to occupy the position of the second lowest in the Caribbean, Haiti being the lowest with a score of 19.
The second event was the observance of International Anti-Corruption Day on 9 December. It was 11 years ago on this day that the United Nations Anti-Corruption Convention came into being. Guyana acceded to the Convention on 16 April 2008. The local transparency body, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc., marked the occasion with its second annual march from Umana Yana to Parliament Buildings and well as with its third annual fundraising dinner.
The third event was a joint statement from six Caribbean countries – The Bahamas, Barbados,
