Thomas calls for local ownership of corruption fight

Members of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. yesterday participating in the anti-corruption walk organised by the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. See story on page 3 (Terrence Thompson photo)

With the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) close to mounting its first set of cases, its Director Professor Clive Thomas yesterday made an appeal for Guyanese to take ownership of the fight against corruption, while saying that there has been an over-reliance on foreign help.

“We have an established over-dependence on the international community. Almost all the things we have managed to do so far, [including] the creation and passage of the [SARA] bill has come through tremendous amount of effort on their part and as a Guyanese I don’t think that is right. We should be contributing,” Thomas told those gathered at a ceremony yesterday ahead of a “symbolic walk” against corruption organised by SARA.

Thomas encouraged “the self-help of Guyanese,” while warning against inertia. “The best way we can distinguish ourselves and show we are serious about the fight against corruption is by self-help. We have to take our role and our stance… the fight against corruption is indeed everybody’s business,” he argued, while noting that SARA is prepared to take the lead and to take the first blows but the general population must show their support.