Saying corruption has now reached “epidemic proportions,” the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) on Wednes-day called for a wide response to the situation, including a more forthright stance on the problem by the ruling party.
In a statement issued in response to the recent call by PPP executive Ralph Ramkarran for the government to take determined action against corruption, the WPA said that because the problem is so deep-seated, it requires the efforts of a “wide network” to arrest it.
In this vein, it urged Guyanese with knowledge of and information on corruption to alert their parliamentary representatives and the relevant civil society organisations. It further called for the enactment of both ‘Whistleblower’ and ‘Asset Forfeiture’ legislation, the cleansing and strengthening of the police and judiciary and speedy establishment of the Procurement, Integrity and other commissions.
“Corruption has become systemic and its long and treacherous reach extends to every branch of the Executive Government and society,” WPA said, while adding that the parliamentary opposition APNU and the AFC in the National Assembly and investigative journalists in the media must “keep up the pressure” by continuing the work of highlighting at every twist and turn instances of corruption. WPA, which is a constituent of APNU, also called on PPP leaders to demonstrate that they are “serious” about the problem by taking “a more forthright stance.” In response to Ramkarran’s call, it noted that it comes very late in the day and downplays the scope of the problem. “The suggestion that charges of official corruption has been exaggerated calls into question whether Mr. Ramkarran is really serious about rooting out this problem,” it said, while suggesting that his statement is in line with the tactic of offending parties and governments that acknowledge a problem but deny its pervasiveness.
As a result, WPA was skeptical of his sincerity and said it saw his statement within the context of the PPP’s attempt to mollify the party’s disaffected base and to give a false impression that the party and government are now open to internal criticisms and governance reform.
In a column in last weekend Mirror newspaper, Ramkarran wrote that he knew of enough verifiable instances of corruption to satisfy himself that it was a pervasive problem. He said many of the corruption reports in the media are exaggerated or frivolous while others were serious enough to make the government take note.
“Corruption and allegations of corruption are not going to disappear if we do nothing else other than call for proof, claim that we now have regular reports from the Auditor General, or that we declare our assets to the Integrity Commission while the opposition members do not. The time has come to take action,” he wrote.
WPA also took note of Ramkarran’s statement and those of Ms Nadira Jagan-Brancier before him as representing some divisions within the PPP on how to deal with corruption or whether to deal with it at all.
Jagan-Brancier, at a Babu John remembrance service for her late mother in March, urged the PPP to get back to being a “non-corruptible” party if it sincerely wanted to have Cheddi and Janet Jagan as its living guides as its leaders have proclaimed.
In its statement, WPA said that as a party with a long tradition of anti-corruption agitation, it has consistently argued that the scourge of corruption has had a crippling effect on governance and development in Guyana. “Official corruption has not only robbed the national treasury of much needed revenues but it has spawned a culture of corruption at every level of the state and society,” it noted, while saying a key aspect of the situation results from the example set by the political leaders. “The expected response from the public is “goat bite me” even as the disease continues to spread its inexorable tentacles,” it added.
The unearthing of rackets in several government agencies since the November 2011 elections bears the situation out, according to the WPA. It specifically cited the situation at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), which it described as “the bastion of corrupt transactions, where favours are bought and paid for with large sums of money and where the big fishes in the various scams escape punishment.”
It charged that in almost every instance those who perpetrate these crimes are in some way connected to the ruling party.
It also contended that the GRA has also not seen it fit to go after those whose conspicuous property and other wealth holdings are inconsistent with their declared incomes and earnings.
In a recent advisory published in the media, GRA has stated that “offering incentives, in any form, for services rendered by its officers when transacting business with the GRA is an offence. It added that persons who are caught doing so will be prosecuted by the agency. “Taxpayers should… protect themselves from facing prosecution and demand an official receipt when monies are paid for services rendered by the various GRA offices,” it declared.
GRA head Khurshid Sattaur also said earlier this week that the agency would want to “jail” its employees and businessmen who set out to rob the state of revenues through unscrupulous business activities.
