Accountability Watch

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been accused of illegally financing his 2012 re-election campaign.

Readers who missed the recent Christopher Ram’s “Plain Talk” on Channel 9 where I was the guest, may be interested in our discussion on COVID-19 as it relates to Guyana.

At the recently held 2021 Petersberg Climate Dialogue in preparation for the Conference of Parties (COP) meeting at the end of the year, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres gave a stark assessment of where the world stands on climate change.

Before proceeding with today’s article, a brief comment on two governance issues is not inappropriate.

In our last two articles, we discussed Chapter 3 of the recently released Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report entitled “Economic Institutions for a Resilient Caribbean” dealing with public financial management (PFM) with specific emphasis on Guyana.

In last week’s article, we began a discussion of the important topic of public financial management (PFM), drawing in part on the contents of the recently released Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report entitled “Economic Institutions for a Resilient Caribbean” as well as our own experience of the subject.

Last week, the print media reported on certain aspects of the recently released Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report as they relate to Guyana.

The affairs of the National Assembly are governed by its Standing Orders, amended from time to time.

Corruption results from a variety of economic, institutional, political and historical factors.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was recently found guilty of corruption for trying to bribe a judge and influence-peddle in exchange for confidential information relating to an investigation into his 2007 campaign finances.

Numerous individuals have raised their voices in condemnation of what has transpired in the National Assembly during the debate on the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2021.

Corruption devastates the lives of billions of people around the world, while its deadliness has become all the more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis.

On Friday, 12 February 2021, the Minister responsible for Finance presented to the National Assembly the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the fiscal year 2021.

On 4 February 2021, the Fiscal Management and Accountability (Amendment) Act 2021 was passed in the National Assembly.

In last week’s article, we discussed Transparency International’s (TI) 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index.

COVID-19 is not just a health and economic crisis, but also a corruption crisis… Countries with high levels of corruption also relied less on democratic responses to the COVID-19 crisis, leading to democratic backsliding in many regions of the world. 

Before proceeding with today’s article, we wish to clarify that the views expressed in last week’s article entitled “Global Witness’s withdrawal of its report on Guyana” are those of this columnist.

Last February, Global Witness issued a report entitled “SIGNED AWAY: How Exxon’s exploitative deal deprived Guyana of up to US$55 billion”.

The Auditor General carried out a special audit of the fees paid by the Ministry of Legal Affairs for legal services during the period May 2015 to August 2020.

On 23 December 2020, the Auditor General’s report on the audit of the public accounts for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2019 was laid in the National Assembly.