Corruption scandals rock Guyana; PSC wants more transparency and accountability

Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Paul Cheong recently told the second installment of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance’s accountability and transparency workshop that corruption undermines businesses and threatens investors’ confidence in a country.

Stabroek News quoted the Chairman as saying that: “While we support Guyana’s anti-corruption framework, we believe that more can be done to enhance transparency and accountability. The Private Sector Chair said the PSC is in a unique position to promote this. In fact, public-private partnership to promote transparency is key to the effective delivery of public services and building a climate that supports private sector development. He went on to say that evidence has shown that the lack of transparency and accountability can affect a country’s productivity and economic growth.”



Cheong warned those gathered at the event that “No country can afford to allow corruption to take root in society, not in the public or private sector. Once corruption invades or permeates a society it becomes insidious and undermines businesses, it threatens security, it threatens and drives away investors altogether. It ultimately criminalizes every activity whether business, the Public Service, professionals [and] even in sport. Eventually, it will bring down any society or organization or persons involved.”

The PSC Chairman went on to list some of the activities he believes fuel corruption in our society.  According to him, if the Government wants “To counter corruption effectively they must combat money laundering, illicit traffic, and all forms of criminal activities that fuel corrupt activities and not allow criminal actors to shelter their proceeds of these illicit activities. There is a strong correlation between good governance, transparency, and accountability to economic development, efficiency, and profitability,” Cheong related.



Cheong reminded the gathering, which included members of the Private Sector, Civil Society organizations, and government, that Guyana is a signatory to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption with the objective of exposing, punishing, and eradicating corruption. The Chair of the Private Sector Commission pointed to a number of countries where investors’ confidence was rocked, and leaders criminally charged as a result of corrupt practices.

Guyana is presently rocked by several corruption scandals involving senior Government officials and members of the Police Force. Not least of these is the Su-Gate scandal involving allegations of bribe-taking leveled against Second Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in a Vice News documentary in June. Sadly, Guyana continues to rate lower and lower on the Transparency International (TI) Index for high levels of corruption since August 2020 when the Peoples’ Progressive Party (PPP) was installed back into office. A recent TI Corruption report shows that Guyana went down by two points in 2021.

In 2019, the last full year of the APNU+AFC Government, Guyana out of 180 countries assessed, earned a score of 40 and a ranking of 85th, alongside regional counterpart Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) and middle eastern country Kuwait, among others. In 2015 when the APNU+AFC took office Guyana was ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world with a score of 29 and a ranking of 119, a few points worse than Mexico and Slightly better than Haiti.

More, In The Ring.