Gov’t rubbishes corruption report

Government is challenging the Transparency International (TI) report which states that Guyana is the most corrupt English-speaking country in the Caribbean.
Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira said the TI survey only included four persons, and they were able to determine the fate of the country. This, she said is somewhat controversial. “There’s a big debate going on at the international level to do with Transparency International by reputable universities and professors in universities in that the consequences of subjective, incorrect or flawed opinions can have on a country,” she said.
She added: “It is expected, I assume, they are fair, but you must remember that Transparency International is a non-empirical survey and that is the issue and why the universities and other persons don’t put much credence on it,” she added.
Teixeira noted that the media worldwide make a fuss over the report since it is the easiest thing to go through.  “I ask you to consider some other documents, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) article in which Guyana has a good report.  And if you believe that the IMF does not go through extreme and extensive due diligence before it issues statements, you are fooling yourselves,” she stated.
The presidential advisor said the IMF is contrasting TI’s report by congratulating Guyana on its commitment. She explained that the World Governance Index of 2011 ranks Guyana at 62 of 174 countries in the terms of corruption, and the area they assessed on are peace and security, rule of law, human rights, sustainable development and human development.
“You can’t have high levels of corruption and come out looking good on human sustainability and economic factors; it is mathematically and arithmetically impossible.  The other issue to do with Transparency International report is that Guyana is a signatory to the Inter-American Convention against Corruption,” she said.
The senior government official explained that Guyana is slated to be reviewed in 2014. She said that it is a rigid methodology used where countries will have to answer on the implementation of the convention.  Teixeira said the convention does not rank countries; rather it is more concerned about systems, governance frameworks and progress.
Guyana and Honduras were ranked as the third most corrupt countries in the Americas on the index.  The 18th annual Corruption Perceptions Index shows that corruption continues to wreak havoc in societies around the world with two thirds of the 176 countries ranked in the 2012 index scoring below 50 on a scale of 0 to 100, where zero is perceived to be highly corrupted and 100 very clean.
Denmark, Finland and New Zealand are now deemed the least corrupt nations in the world, scoring 90 while Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia “once again clinging to the bottom of the index.  According to the report, these corrupt countries lack accountable leaders and effective public institutions.
Zooming in closer to home, Guyana and Honduras ranked at 133 with a score of 28, making them the third most corrupted countries in the Americas, while Canada showed little signs of corruption after topping the chart with a score of 84.  Venezuela and Haiti tied with a score of 19, as the most corrupted countries in the Americas, with Paraguay coming in second.