In its frenzied effort to denigrate the survey, the Progressive Youth Organization (PYO), the youth arm of the ruling PPP, launched venomous attacks on the Vice-President of the local transparency body, Mr Anand Goolsarran and civil society activist and the government’s perceived bête noir, Mr Christopher Ram. Outlandish and ferocious attacks on independent-minded persons who are prepared to defend the public interest are a well-known tactic of the ruling party and its arms to intimidate and deflect attention. Both Messrs Goolsarran and Ram are performing yeoman’s work in the protection of the rights of all Guyanese to be provided with the information that they should have and to prevent corruption. Mr Ram has long been an object of these attacks by the PPP and thankfully has never been fazed by them.
It is unfortunate that the PYO would seek to attack an outstanding and upstanding public servant like Mr Goolsarran who dedicated many years of his life to improving accountability in public finances. The PYO has gone beyond the pale by stating that Mr Goolsarran “… prior to 1992 was widely suspected to have colluded with the PNC to suppress the production of audited public accounts and was complicit in the concealment of PNC mismanagement of Government finances.” It would appear that the PPP’s founder, the late Dr Cheddi Jagan was completely unaware of this extraordinary PYO insight when he served as President between 1992 and 1997 at the same time that Mr Goolsarran was Auditor General. It is a ludicrous attack and follows the example of senior functionaries in the Office of the President. Indeed, Mr Goolsarran became a target of former President Jagdeo and HPS Luncheon when he announced his attention to investigate the scandalous export of dolphins from this country by presidential advisor, Mr Lumumba.
For all their attempts to ridicule the TI index, the government must surely be aware that it is only the Office of the President and Freedom House which try to keep up the pretence that corruption is not a serious problem in the country. Its own former, long-serving executive – 50 years with the party – immediate past Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Ralph Ramkarran had this to say only last week: “The allegations of corruption and lack of transparency in the country remain one of the major weaknesses that the Party has failed to confront. There is now some reluctant admission that corruption exists. Unless institutional and legal measures follow these admissions, this would be a major, continuing source of disappointment among Party supporters”. Perhaps the PYO should interview Mr Ramkarran on what steps he thinks will approve accountability and dispel the belief that there is rampant and entrenched corruption in the country.
The PPP/C government faces two intractable problems in clearing away the reality and fog of corruption. The first is that there are numerous cases of definite and probable graft that the government has ignored and second, the PPP over 20 years has made a concerted effort to ensure that watchdogs are non-existent or with all their teeth removed.
For all of the sanctimonious prating by ministers of the government and the Office of the President, the last two decades of PPP/C governance are littered with big-ticket items smeared in corruption. Going far back into the tenure of President Jagdeo, the Essequibo Coast road and its attendant stone scam was a prime example and one that no doubt sullied relations with the World Bank.
In more recent years, there have been numerous examples of non-accountability and attendant concerns of corruption. A key one is the expenditure on the 2005 flood. Billions of dollars had to be disbursed for relief supplies, pumps, wages, health expeditions, food aid, recovery packages and other essentials during the Great Flood yet there was no accounting for it despite a promise that a supplementary budget would be laid in Parliament. What else can one say other than it was the era of the comfortable parliamentary majority when the government did as it pleased without restraint. The relief exercise did have an auspicious start. State auditors were summoned to State House for a photo opportunity with President Jagdeo marshalling the relief effort. It is unclear what happened to the auditors afterwards. None of the subsequent reports of the Office of the Auditor General ever shed light on the flood expenditure.
There were others: expenditure on the cricket world cup, the cricket stadium and Carifesta. These were all huge undertakings for which no accounting was ever provided to the public. A well-publicised and controversial loan to the proprietor of the Buddy’s Hotel was never accounted for and he subsequently flipped the hotel for a tidy return.
There are four examples in the last year or so that President Ramotar should seek explanations for if he is serious about transparency and clean government. The first is the Pradoville II Scheme which saw a favoured clique of government officials and their handpicked friends and family being allocated state lots without any credible explanation. The second is the mind-boggling revelation by the Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Clement Rohee, that senior policemen who took kickbacks in relation to the corrupt acquisition of a $16M police boat were allowed to pay back the sums they received and were not prosecuted. Unbelievable. Third, the shenanigans at NCN in relation to payments for services to GT&T have snared two favourites of the PPP in misappropriation and a cover-up. Yet, the government has failed to act for the last six months. It is clear from this manoeuvring that the board of NCN and the government are playing for time and hoping that the scandal blows away. Fourth, the manner in which radio licences were distributed by President Jagdeo to an exalted few just weeks before last year’s general elections was wholly opaque and unacceptable. How then don’t these examples lead to damning evidence and perception of entrenched corruption in many parts of government?
The government has long been advised how to create conditions for the lifting of the spectre of corruption. The first is the activating and empowering of watchdogs and the second is the passage and enforcement of relevant legislation. The ruling party, after 20 unbroken years in government, has the truly shameful record of having no Ombudsman in place, no Integrity Commission, no Public Procurement Commission, no Public Service Appellate Tribunal, no qualified Auditor General in the state audit office, no functioning anti-money laundering mechanisms. It clearly has no interest in accountability and transparency. It has also prevaricated on and shunned pivotal legislation like access to information, whistle-blowing and the like. Is it a surprise that Guyana finds itself mired in the trenches in the TI index while better ordered societies in the Caribbean like Barbados and The Bahamas with strong institutions and open government have performed very well on the index?
The government presents itself as inflexible and disinclined to be transparent in its business. The consequence will be continued blacklisting by indices like TI with repercussions for the country’s economy and investment.
