Development Watch – Tarron Khemraj
Each year Guyana’s position in the world is made known by indices and data put together by global organizations such as the IMF, World Bank, Transparency International, The Economist Intelligence Unit, United Nations and others. Some are released without much media attention and rebuttals from the government. One index in particular that comes in for much vilification from the government and some of its supporters is Transparency International’s (TI) corruption perceptions index (CPI). The disparagement of the index comes because Guyana appears to be doing poorly relative to its peers in CARICOM, coming out only ahead of Haiti. As was reported last December, Guyana slipped further in the 2013 ranking.
By definition it is a perception index since corruption often is not recorded on the books. As I have written in the past, we have to observe the assets of politicians when they enter government plus the known pay and expenses they incur. We have to observe the policy choices of politicians to