Efforts are underway to establish a local chapter of the anti-corruption advocacy organisation Transparency International (TI) as a way to get the government to be more accountable to the people.
Chartered accountant and attorney Christopher Ram told Stabroek News yesterday that the move stemmed from a decision taken at a TI regional meeting which was held in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month.
“There has been a seminar in the Caribbean at which a number of countries were represented including Guyana. The decision was that they needed representatives in all of the Caribbean territories.
Ram, a vociferous advocate for transparency in government, said discussions are already underway here on setting up the national chapter.
“There will be a meeting this weekend to decide whether, and if yes what form the organisation will take. For example if it will be under the Companies Act or the Friendly Societies Act,” he said.
Ram revealed that others involved at various levels in getting the organisation started include former bauxite industry executive Bernard Crawford, Father Compton Meerabus, Father Malcolm Rodrigues and journalist and Capitol News publisher Enrico Woolford.
The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute is the most vibrant TI chapter in the region and was recently voted 15th out of 40 countries in the organisation’s Revenue Watch Index (RWI). The RWI marks the first attempt to measure and compare the information governments disclose about the oil, gas and mining industries, including payments received by governments for exploitation of their reserves, production data and the terms of contracts, a recent TTTI release stated.
Founded in 1993 TI is a global network including more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation. These bodies fight corruption in the national arena by bringing together relevant players from government, civil society, business and the media to promote transparency in elections, in public administration, in procurement and in business. TI’s global network of chapters and contacts also use advocacy campaigns to lobby governments to implement anti-corruption reforms. Politically non-partisan, TI does not undertake investigations of alleged corruption or expose individual cases, but at times will work in coalition with organisations that do.
