Govt going hi-tech with corruption fight – launches ‘ipaidabribe’ website

By Umadevi Bux –

The Home Affairs Ministry on Friday launched the website: ipaidabribe.gy, which will give citizens a chance to document cases of them being required to bribe public officials.
The website will encourage the accountability of government officials, political leaders and every Guyanese citizens serving in private or public organisations.

According to information technology specialist attached to the ministry, Floyd Levi, this is an initiative which will provide the public with clear and comprehensive corruption analysis, along with statistical details of corporate or political corruption in the country.
“The ipaidabribe.gy idea comes out of India and European countries, which have taken up the initiative as well. Users should also know that they can also state instances when they did not pay a bribe,” said Levi.  “On ipaidabribe.gy, Guyanese citizens can freely report any type of bribe stories, unfolded scams, or fraud cases in Guyana. The users can anonymously comment and publish corruption stories of Guyanese politicians and corrupt officials in the public sectors,” he continued.
Levi also noted that the entire process is done anonymously. He stated that this initiative gives Guyanese citizens a more hands-on approach to fighting crime and corruption within the public services. It complements the online crime reporting system, the BBM and text messaging system and the hotline through which citizens can report crimes on which the police subsequently act upon.
Levi emphasised that the entire process allows for the users to provide a title for their case, and state the time, location, and the institution the bribe taker is attached to. This will allow the ministry and the relevant authorities to act as required.
Corruption
threatens society
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said: “The ipaidabribe.gy is another means for citizens to assist in the fight against corruption and for the citizens to get information to us and the ones who do not have access to the Internet, always have the other ways of reporting a crime.”
He noted that corruption is universal, as it is present in developed and developing countries, in the public and private sector, and in nonprofit or charitable organisations. Corruption threatens people and their governments, he said.
During the launch, it was also revealed that the Home Affairs Ministry is seeking to implement a crime mapping application within the next two months.
According to the system development officer attached to the Home Affairs Ministry, Nkasi Nedd, the mapping system is a two-fold initiative, which allows citizens to go online and give information on a crime, such as the date and location.
“After users input the information, the police will then verify the reported crime and subsequently follow up on it… also this mapping system will allow us to predict where criminal activities are likely to occur and thus, for this we will turn to the theory of criminology and analysis will be done for short-term monthly and weekly mapping…,”said Nedd.
She noted that the crime mapping will take into consideration the long-term socioeconomic structure of communities to determine which community will more likely experience criminal activities, thus the task force and resources will be focused on those areas.
Rohee noted that modern thinking allows for innovation in fighting crime and corruption in order for a country to move forward. It was also stated at the launch that updates on both the initiatives will be done as close to real time as possible.