We assembled at the Umana Yana for 10 am on Monday. It was anti-corruption day across the world and we decided to march and to say no to this scourge. Whether real or perceived, corruption is a problem here—from bribery deals and waste of public money to a lack of transparency and public accountability.
The language of corruption in Guyana has for too long been synonymous with one word – bribery. Indeed, bribery is widespread and too many of us are familiar with the practice of leaving a “small piece” with police officers or officials attached to the public service.
But corruption is so much more. It involves the health care professional at our public hospital who is referring poor patients to a personal private practice and also political interference in the judicial process. Corruption includes the government ministry that goes unaudited, the poorly done roads in our communities, poorly-built schools and government projects where the costs are inflated, etcetera. Corruption is not simply bribery. Therefore, it is important that we widen the focus of corruption so that people could begin to understand the crippling effects corruption has on development and, more importantly, the relationship between corruption and poverty.
This year the global anti-corruption campaign for 2013 was fittingly launched under the theme “Zero Corruption – 100% Development”. The focus here is on a number of things, including how corruption hinders efforts to achieve the internationally agreed upon Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and erodes the quality of life.
Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) organised the march on Monday to acknowledge that we have a problem with corruption, to take stock of efforts at battling corruption locally, and to raise awareness. This year Guyana managed 27 out of 100 points in the Transparency International 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), ranking the lowest in the Caribbean just ahead of Haiti.
The government continues to challenge TI’s perception index but has not been doing enough to prove otherwise. In fact, the administration is yet to demonstrate that when errors are made at the government level, someone will take responsibility. No one takes responsibility for government mistakes and major foul ups – public officials do not resign in this country, though we have had a number of major public scandals.
The anti-corruption march moved off from the Umana Yana just after 10 am. With the sun piercing our skins, we marched and chanted along the route for a corruption-free future. Though few in number – around 80 persons showed up – we joined our voices in a loud chorus against waste of public money. We proceeded south towards Main Street drawing curious stares and some cries of support. One woman exited a minibus along the route and joined the march, but she had assumed we were marching against the five per cent increase for public servants.
But public servants were there though more should have marched with us. Their struggle and the anti-corruption struggle are one and the same: we are demanding a better quality of life. Along the route we passed the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom), the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Residence, State House, and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport. Perhaps TIGI conveniently chose that route to awaken the democratic spirit in us that currently slumbers.
Every citizen in this country has a right to know what our government is up to in our name and with our money. We have a democratic right to ask questions and our public officials have a duty to provide us with answers.
Looting of the public purse is a criminal offence in every country but these are not the crimes we read about in our daily newspapers. The government says it is fighting corruption yet we are never likely to see a single corrupt public official on trial. What we often get from the administration is a challenge to “produce the evidence” of corruption. But in a society where public officials refuse to be open with the public, with us, we cannot carefully scrutinise their actions.
In the absence of critical information regarding where every dollar is going and public documents showing same, we have very limited power to scrutinise the actions and decisions of our public officials. We vote them into office but they are not accountable to us, they are accountable to a party leader and this is the case across the board.
Too often we find that deals are made in secret – deals which are very advantageous to companies and potentially very advantageous to public officials, but very disadvantageous to citizens. Just recently, the government scrapped a solid waste recycling deal with Natural Globe Inc after the press reported a number of discrepancies with the company, and on the same day we marched a whistle-blower released documents to the press regarding a Permission of Geological and Geophysical Survey (PGGS) granted to the Muri Brasil Ventures Ltd.
In a democracy, the government has a responsibility to present to citizens deals that are transparent and mutually beneficial. This means that our elected officials have a duty to do business in our interest and to tell us about it. If the public interest is not at the heart of a government deal then it is not a public deal, it is a private deal and our officials have no power to be doing private business with our money. This is what the corruption literature tells us and this is why some of us marched on Monday.
We are not simply saying to the government that it needs to do more to end corruption. We are saying that a new social contract is required between the government and the people that puts development at the heart of our agreement. We are saying to the government that you have a responsibility to own up to mistakes, and to be open and honest with us.
Professor Paul Collier of Oxford University made an interesting point during an anti-corruption conference at the university two years ago. He reasoned that the real problem with corruption in government is not that 15 per cent of a government project goes towards a bribe or is pocketed, but that the crook sitting in an office disguised as a public official still occupies that office and has the power to keep syphoning off money, project after project. Indeed, he makes an important link between money, patronage, power and corruption.
“It is not that the money is leaking out, it is that it is empowering the very people who are at the heart of the problem,” the Professor said. And he charged that closing your eyes to the process by which money is spent is the height of irresponsibility.
So when we marched, we were signalling that we are awake and our eyes are open. We are sharing in the responsibility for how our democracy is managed and how our money is spent. We are also showing an interest in whether government contracts are negotiated in the best interest of the citizens of Guyana.
The anti-corruption struggle here continues and every citizen ought to recognise the importance of this struggle. Therefore, I ask this crucial question: Where were you when we marched on Monday?
Have a question or comment? Connect Iana Seales at about.me/iseales
