There is still one senior PPP-man (a People’s Progressive Party Stalwart) – that I can relate to as a somewhat principled gentleman. He puts the values of integrity and friendship in front of his die-hard Cheddi-like ideology and politics.
He for example, dealt with the late Viola Burnham as a woman of dignity but really never “appreciated” his young President Bharrat J.
The two of us often agree to disagree. So whilst he would acknowledge some degree of executive lawlessness and corruption as very active, he seems “shy” to acknowledge that corruption is actually rampant and now cancerous in high places – and is quite injurious to the health of our nation. Then as if to place the local kleptocratic corruption in a global context he asked that I read and discuss literature on the subject which he made available to me.
Two wrongs seldom produce what is right. And universal sin must never exempt or pardon us from evil in the local corridors of power.
However in the following paragraphs, I share the interesting, provocative views of a Jason Hickel who takes Transparency International to task for berating the poorer Global South over corruption, through its latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), when, he shows, that pervasive corruption is way more rampant in the rich developed world.
Writes Hickel who lectures at the London School of Economics: “Many international development organisations hold that persistent poverty in the Global South is caused largely by corruption among local public officials. In 2003 these concerns led to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which asserts that, while corruption exists in all countries, this “evil phenomenon” is “most destructive” in the global South, where it is a “key element in economic underperformance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development.” There’s only one problem with his theory: It’s just not true!
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Rich Corruption Breeds Poverty
Noting the CPI’s definition of corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefit,” Dr Hickel uses official statistics and known economic development “culture” to expose now institutionalized means of corrupt economic practices which rich West uses to impoverish poor South.
Some more of his arguments: “According to the World Bank, corruption in the form of bribery and theft by government officials, the main target of the UN Convention, costs developing countries between $20Bn and $40Bn each year. That’s a lot of money. But it’s an extremely small proportion- only about 3 percent- of the total illicit flows that leak out of public coffers. Tax avoidance, on the other hand, accounts for more than $900bn each year, money that multinational corporations steal from developing countries through practices such as trade mispricing.
This enormous outflow of wealth is facilitated by a shadowy financial system that includes tax havens, paper companies, anonymous accounts, and fake foundations, with the City of London at the very heart of it. Over 30 percent of global foreign direct investment is booked through tax havens, which now collectively hide one sixth of the world’s total private wealth.
This is a massive- indeed, fundamental-cause of poverty in the developing world, yet it does not register in the mainstream definition of corruption, absent from the UN Convention, and rarely, if ever, appears on the agenda of international development organisations.”
In his brief, Hickel goes on to illustrate how corrupt institutions and practices in the developed nations undermine struggling economies and even are utilized to bolster the very dictatorial regimes some Western democracies pretend to dislike. He discusses the non- transparent, undemocratic nature of the World Bank, the IMF, the US Treasury and even the City of London. Between the eighties and nineties developing countries lost around $480 Billion per year of potential GDP! Human devastation for the poor but wealth for the Western Corporations gaining access to new markets, cheap labour and fresh avenues for capital flight.
I recommend Hickel’s piece titled “Flipping the Corruption Myth” as it exposes how “exported corruption” impedes the development of the poor, encouraging local mischief. It even begs the question: which is more corrupt- the undemocratic regimes sucking their constituents dry, or the powerful which allows them to?
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Corruption Guyana
We in Guyana hardly need Transparency International and its Corruption Index to tell us about our own Executive-inspired plight.
From dishonest but underpaid policemen to Customs Officers to NDC’s and Contractors the Corruption Cancer is rife here. It is perceived to be condoned by too many in power. The youth sees the get-rich-quick officials and the cocaine barons. No prosecution leads a new generation to conclude that corruption in Guyana is no crime! Discuss…
Even the church has to exist
It’s quite obvious, it is not? Like a school, a clinic or car, a church has to be upkept and maintained. Even the House of God has to have electricity, water and infrastructural upgrades.
Men of God, whether village pastor or the Anglican Dean of Georgetown, must receive sustenance from somewhere.
In my youth there were fund-raising fairs and tea parties, donations from local and foreign sources including the Mother Church in the Mother Country; member’s tithes; later, fees for burials and so on. But how does our “modern Church” exist these days?
Some faiths benefit from the old-fashion commitments and the generosity of comfortable members with big businesses. Overseas affiliations allow some patrons funding and visas. Televised programmes publicise some innovative ways that the “Lord” inspires- sales of cloth, bricks, water, etc. etc. Seeds must be sown for survival. Thankful believers reward the pastors more than commensurately at times. Some of today’s churches established schools and medical clinics- some replete with aircraft. Former members donate from the Diaspora. Then there are grants and tax exemptions from the Revenue Authority. Yes, even the church must operate like a “Business”- busy with its spiritual tasks of saving souls- But how successful is the church at that these days?
Ponder…
The late Brian Aaron of Bartica- 47 years then – was taken to the Bartica, Leonora, West Demerara, Woodlands and Georgetown Public Hospitals. Five types of hospitals did not help. He died under a bed. Some of us can travel overseas for medical attention.
What does Leader Granger think of member Norton?
The lady declared that “To be Anti- Wrong is not to be Anti- Government.” More next week when we explore Caricom’s attitude to its own civil society charter.
‘Til next week!
(Comments? allanfenty@yahoo.com)
