With Guyana continuing to be listed in the very corrupt category in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy here, Bryan Hunt has said that the issue needs to be addressed as it hinders development.
“Corruption is one of those things that is driven largely by perception. The perception of corruption whether it is objectively true or not impedes businesses’ willingness to invest, it causes lack of confidence in the government among the electorate so certainly it’s something that needs to be addressed,” Hunt told Stabroek News in an exclusive, wide-ranging interview on Thursday.
In emphasising that every country has problems with integrity and with governance and this is not something that is unique to Guyana and the US, Hunt said that there is now very well-documented evidence that corruption impedes economic development.
He said that corruption globally is a concern to the US and it is important that the global community puts its significant resources into doing everything that can be done to bring down global corruption levels.
The US diplomat noted that TI has documented a “very serious perception of corruption within Guyana” and while there can be debates on the findings “the fact remains that there is now documented by TI, documented by other sources, a perception that there is corruption within Guyana and that’s a perception that is going to have to be addressed.”
In its latest rankings released last December, TI listed Guyana in the very corrupt category of its Corruption Perceptions Index. Guyana remains far behind its CARICOM peers placing 124th out of 175 countries. The only CARICOM country that is doing worse than Guyana is Haiti which placed 161. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Guyana’s score for 2014 was 30 compared to 27 in 2013 and 28 the year before. The Jagdeo and Ramotar administrations have been beset by concerns over rampant corruption and the country’s ranking on TI’s index has been very poor.
Every possible resource
Hunt said that the organs set up to address those perception such as the Auditor General’s Office, the Office of the Ombudsman and others need to be given every possible resource to ensure that they can carry out their job. From the perspective of the United States, they would continue to want to find ways that they can support those institutions through their international development resources, he noted. The US chargé stated too that he hopes that other donors are looking similarly.
“I would hope that the Government of Guyana within its resource constraints is also able to look at how they can provide support to those institutions to try to bring down that perception that corruption exists in the country,” he added.
Meantime, as it relates to hydropower, Hunt said that it is a good thing. He said that there is no question that one of the greatest impediments to development in the Caribbean are the very high rates that people have to pay for power and that stems from the fact that a majority of Caribbean countries including Guyana remain dependent almost wholly on imported diesel fuel.
The development of alternatives is going to be absolutely critical to moving the development of the region forward, he said.
The American diplomat said that there are a number of changes that needs to be made within the regulatory regime of the various Caribbean countries if they are going to be able to attract international investment.
Fundamentally, the development of alternative sources of energy such as hydropower and geothermal energy is going to require a climate that is attractive to outside international investors and “right now we think that there’s still some work that needs to be done on that quite frankly,” he said.
Hunt said that the American government is willing to work through its institutions like the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank of the US to try to give greater confidence to their investors who want to come and look at those areas. However, they also need the governments in the region- and the governments recognize this – to make some changes as to how they regulate this part of their economy to open it up to allow for greater competition to provide greater security to investors who want to come and look at those high risk but potentially very high reward alternative energy sources.
Aggressively
Hydropower needs to be aggressively pursued through a partnership between public entities and the private sector, Hunt said. “I am very hopeful that we will see hydropower projects start in Guyana. I think the potential here is tremendous and I think frankly as you look at Guyana’s energy future, it’s what makes sense given your geography and your comparative advantages,” he asserted.
Asked whether the US stance on the controversial Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) remains the same, Hunt said that he did not have the information to make that judgment. Former US Ambassador Brent Hardt had publicly supported the project.
“Right at that time, we had a project on the drawing board with very specific terms, very specific investors, very well identified.
Because of what happened, we think very unfortunately in the parliament, some of those key investors are no longer interested so will Amaila Falls move forward? I don’t know. I’m not privy to any of the discussions that may have taken place between the government and a new set of investors,” Hunt said.
Before US-based Sithe Global pulled out here in 2013 as the developer of the US$858.2 million, 165-megawatt hydro venture, the project was shrouded in controversy as costs escalated.
Hunt noted that he had seen the press statements about the AFHP moving forward but he does not have information about the parameters of the project “so it’s very difficult for me to comment on whether we would support a given project without knowing the specifics, the investors, the returns, the numbers essentially because all of those have to make sense before one would say yea this is a great project.”
The American diplomat said that in concept, a hydropower dam at Amaila makes sense if there is the right investor, the right numbers, the right rates of return and the loans are being made at the appropriate rate as well as the power purchase rates are at appropriate prices to make it an economically viable proposition.
Before saying that they support the project, they want to review the numbers “because I know that things have probably changed, maybe for the better, maybe not” in the intervening period, Hunt asserted.
