Dear Editor,
Corruption undermines our development. It creates a society where economic and social growth is trampled by greed. Corruption also reinforces economic inequality, as the underprivileged in our society are not given a fair chance to access opportunities and resources. Thus, this Anti-Corruption Day (9th December, 2021), Transparency Institute Guyana Inc (TIGI) would like to encourage all Guyanese to actively demand honesty, accountability and transparency. Key to this, is developing policies geared at eliminating the culture of bribery and nepotism that pervades our public institutions.
TYPES OF CORRUPTION: Political: Political corruption occurs when an elected government official uses his power for private political gain, for example, an officeholder maintaining his position by buying votes. Judicial: Judicial corruption refers to the misconduct or unjust behavior of judges in return for personal favors, for example, a judge ruling a case in a particular way in exchange for money. Educational: Educational corruption is any action taken in connection with an examination or test that gives an unfair advantage to someone, for example, improper grading of students’ papers, grade fraud and deliberate negligence towards cheating, or assistance in cheating. METHODS OF CORRUPTION Bribery – Bribery is the improper use of gifts and favors in exchange for personal gain. The types of favors include money, promotions, special privileges, employment, and political benefits. Favoritism – Favoritism includes the hiring or promoting of a family member or staff member to a role he or she is not fully qualified for. Extortion – Extortion is the use of violence, threats, or intimidation to gain money from an individual. Implicit Transfers – From a risk-based standpoint, it is in the area of petroleum-related licensing and contracting that we find the country’s greatest exposure to corruption. The losses to countries like Guyana are spectacular where these have been proven to have occurred. The theft of resources of astronomical value can occur in as simple a way as the deliberate failure to enforce a law where such a law exists, or where it is deliberately misinterpreted in favor of private financial interests. Since the benefit of such an action is conferred upon the private interests as a benefit in kind, it is as easy in its conceptualization as it is difficult to trace. This kind of corruption is referred as an implicit transfer. The history of petroleum licensing and contracting transactions in Guyana presents extraordinary exposure to this kind of corruption. The only protection against this kind of corruption is a vigilance by the society for the exposure at the very front door of the system – the law. It is for that reason that we encourage our fellow Guyanese to be on guard, and to examine new laws being drafted for weaknesses and loopholes that have the potential for misinterpretation and to demand that the laws as passed be followed to the letter.
HOW CAN YOU HELP FIGHT CORRUPTION – Some more ways in which we help stop corruption are: Paying government employees a livable wage to reduce the temptation to accept bribes, giving strict punishments to those found guilty of corruption, educating people on the effects of corruption. And how it negatively impacts society and economic growth. Hopefully, with consistent social effort, we can vastly reduce if not entirely eliminate this great exploitation of the poor and vulnerable. You can help the fight against corruption by speaking about it, that is, by abandoning your silence. It is not enough for you to give charity to the poor. You must also know that when money is creamed off from the very top, it creates more poverty. By your silence you, the paragon of virtue, become an accomplice to corruption. You can also help by supporting TIGI’s call for open government. This is, in summary, a change in the culture of governance from one where government business is to be treated as secret unless it is proven that it may be disclosed with the burden of proof on the citizen, to one where the business is to be public, requiring disclosure, with information published in a form accessible to the ordinary citizen until and unless it can be proven that secrecy is required for some justifiable reason. In such case it will be the government’s burden to prove this. We wish all of us a safe Christmas and a 2022 filled with watchfulness against corruption, which in the end, is watchfulness over our own affairs.
Sincerely,
Frederick Collins
Compton Meerabux
Veda Ram
Darshanand Khusial
