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GOVERNMENT has rejected outright the recently published report on corruption by Transparency International (TI), saying it lacks credibility and is based on fundamentally flawed opinions. The declaration was made yesterday during a panel discussion at the National Communications Network (NCN), among Presidential Advisor on Governance, Ms Gail Teixeira, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, and Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Anil Nandlall
Listing the various mechanisms in place to fight corruption, all of which were not taken into account in the compilation of the damning report, Teixeira said the public needs to be aware of how it is prepared, and the sources used to come up with the rankings.
This need for awareness, she said, was especially important since the media use the report at reference to sensationalise the ranking of a country.
“It is not a dependable or reliable index of corruption in any country,” she stressed, adding that TI’s surveys are not empirical but rather perception-based and as such are fraudulent in many ways, as they are not derived through measures or indicators that could speak to the level of corruption in any country.
Guyana has signed and ratified the Inter-American Convention against corruption as well as the United Nations Convention on Corruption. This in itself is a bold step in the right direction for this country since many countries in the Region are still to sign one or both of these conventions; yet they are ranked higher than Guyana in TI’s report.
As Teixeira observed: “We have bound ourselves legally as a country to international treaties in relation to the fight against corruption. We are willing to go before the UN and the OAS to be reviewed and assessed on what progress has been made and identify what are the gaps in relation to the fight against corruption. TI does not do that; it does not allow any country to use their indicators to help them fight against corruption.”
Meanwhile, Dr Singh was at pains to explain that because of the manner in which it is s compiled, the corruption index has fundamental limitations; it does not measure the incidence of corruption and the strength of institutions that exist in a country to fight corruption and their effectiveness.
“What we have in Guyana,” he said, “is this index being purported to measure something that it does not. You have local commentators taking the perception index, and clearly attempting to characterise it to somehow being the measure of the incidence or occurrence of corruption in Guyana. This is inappropriate and it constitutes a misrepresentation of what the index actually is.”
Dr Singh noted that the small group of people who are seeking to misrepresent what the index actually represents is the same group, which, with political motivation, actively seeks to fuel the perception of the existence of corruption at a level far beyond what it really is.
Government, he said, is not denying that there are instances of corruption in Guyana, but there are a few people, who, for political reasons, are bent on characterising the PPP/C Administration as presiding over a corrupt country, and in advancing this position, they are misrepresenting the reality in terms of the level of corruption that exists.
The track record of successive PPP/C Governments in office for establishing legislative and institutional arrangements for fighting corruption has been described as commendable by Dr Singh.
Guyana has a very wide and impressive array of legislation and institutional arrangements for fighting corruption and for promoting openness and transparency in Government.
These include: Auditor-General Reports which are submitted directly to the Speaker of the National Assembly; a Public Accounts Committee which has oversight of the Audit Office and is chaired by the Opposition; establishment of Standing Sectoral Committees to exercise oversight over Government policies (Economic, Social Services, Foreign Relations, Natural Resources and Security Sectoral Committees).
Minister Singh said that the foregoing committees have served in an impressive manner to advance the cause of openness and transparency in Government.
There is also a sound legislative framework, which includes: the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act; Procurement Act; the Audit Act and a number of regulations to advance the cause of openness and transparency in Government.
“What needs to be remembered is that it is not just the Government of Guyana that is being painted as corrupt; it is our country, our private sector, our citizens and our households and these persons who for political reasons are seeking to besmirch the image of the Government, are in fact besmirching the image of our whole country,” Minister Singh said.
Minister Nandlall, spoke of the many systems that have been set up by Government to allow the rule of law, which is important in the political process and public life to the question of corruption, to prevail.
In terms of structures in the judiciary, a constitutional and administrative court has been established.
These are bodies of law that address principally, the actions of Government, state and state apparatus and allow a litigant to go to the courts to question precisely, these decisions to determine whether they are rationally arrived at, involved an abuse of discretionary power, arbitrarily done, and whether the constitution of the country has been violated.
“So in this area of law, every citizen has a right to question the actions, decisions, or omissions of every state function, statutory body, or public authority,” the AG explained.
With the passage of the Judicial Review Act, the courts are now vested with the kind of power that has never resided in a court. This means that a litigant can file an action against the decision of a public authority or official in the court, which is empowered through that law to dismiss the public official, against whom the complaint was made, if it is found that he or she acted in a manner that is violative of the law.
At the level of the exercise of legal power by state and state officials, there is a review process, both at the court and institutionally.
It should be noted that Guyana is the only country in the hemisphere that has the minutes of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) published on the website. (GINA)
Listing the various mechanisms in place to fight corruption, all of which were not taken into account in the compilation of the damning report, Teixeira said the public needs to be aware of how it is prepared, and the sources used to come up with the rankings.
This need for awareness, she said, was especially important since the media use the report at reference to sensationalise the ranking of a country.
“It is not a dependable or reliable index of corruption in any country,” she stressed, adding that TI’s surveys are not empirical but rather perception-based and as such are fraudulent in many ways, as they are not derived through measures or indicators that could speak to the level of corruption in any country.
Guyana has signed and ratified the Inter-American Convention against corruption as well as the United Nations Convention on Corruption. This in itself is a bold step in the right direction for this country since many countries in the Region are still to sign one or both of these conventions; yet they are ranked higher than Guyana in TI’s report.
As Teixeira observed: “We have bound ourselves legally as a country to international treaties in relation to the fight against corruption. We are willing to go before the UN and the OAS to be reviewed and assessed on what progress has been made and identify what are the gaps in relation to the fight against corruption. TI does not do that; it does not allow any country to use their indicators to help them fight against corruption.”
Meanwhile, Dr Singh was at pains to explain that because of the manner in which it is s compiled, the corruption index has fundamental limitations; it does not measure the incidence of corruption and the strength of institutions that exist in a country to fight corruption and their effectiveness.
“What we have in Guyana,” he said, “is this index being purported to measure something that it does not. You have local commentators taking the perception index, and clearly attempting to characterise it to somehow being the measure of the incidence or occurrence of corruption in Guyana. This is inappropriate and it constitutes a misrepresentation of what the index actually is.”
Dr Singh noted that the small group of people who are seeking to misrepresent what the index actually represents is the same group, which, with political motivation, actively seeks to fuel the perception of the existence of corruption at a level far beyond what it really is.
Government, he said, is not denying that there are instances of corruption in Guyana, but there are a few people, who, for political reasons, are bent on characterising the PPP/C Administration as presiding over a corrupt country, and in advancing this position, they are misrepresenting the reality in terms of the level of corruption that exists.
The track record of successive PPP/C Governments in office for establishing legislative and institutional arrangements for fighting corruption has been described as commendable by Dr Singh.
Guyana has a very wide and impressive array of legislation and institutional arrangements for fighting corruption and for promoting openness and transparency in Government.
These include: Auditor-General Reports which are submitted directly to the Speaker of the National Assembly; a Public Accounts Committee which has oversight of the Audit Office and is chaired by the Opposition; establishment of Standing Sectoral Committees to exercise oversight over Government policies (Economic, Social Services, Foreign Relations, Natural Resources and Security Sectoral Committees).
Minister Singh said that the foregoing committees have served in an impressive manner to advance the cause of openness and transparency in Government.
There is also a sound legislative framework, which includes: the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act; Procurement Act; the Audit Act and a number of regulations to advance the cause of openness and transparency in Government.
“What needs to be remembered is that it is not just the Government of Guyana that is being painted as corrupt; it is our country, our private sector, our citizens and our households and these persons who for political reasons are seeking to besmirch the image of the Government, are in fact besmirching the image of our whole country,” Minister Singh said.
Minister Nandlall, spoke of the many systems that have been set up by Government to allow the rule of law, which is important in the political process and public life to the question of corruption, to prevail.
In terms of structures in the judiciary, a constitutional and administrative court has been established.
These are bodies of law that address principally, the actions of Government, state and state apparatus and allow a litigant to go to the courts to question precisely, these decisions to determine whether they are rationally arrived at, involved an abuse of discretionary power, arbitrarily done, and whether the constitution of the country has been violated.
“So in this area of law, every citizen has a right to question the actions, decisions, or omissions of every state function, statutory body, or public authority,” the AG explained.
With the passage of the Judicial Review Act, the courts are now vested with the kind of power that has never resided in a court. This means that a litigant can file an action against the decision of a public authority or official in the court, which is empowered through that law to dismiss the public official, against whom the complaint was made, if it is found that he or she acted in a manner that is violative of the law.
At the level of the exercise of legal power by state and state officials, there is a review process, both at the court and institutionally.
It should be noted that Guyana is the only country in the hemisphere that has the minutes of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) published on the website. (GINA)
