By Gabriella Chapman
AS the APNU+AFC government continues to fight corruption in Guyana, the Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, along with a team of state counsel, held the seventh public Anti-Corruption Sensitisation Seminar at Mabaruma on Wednesday.

At the seminar, Williams said that the battle to eradicate corruption has its genesis in the endeavour of His Excellency President David Granger, who during his first year as President signed the United Nations Anti-Corruption Agreement. The President has since then delegated the responsibility to the AG to educate the people of Guyana in this regard.

Williams told the people of Mabaruma that Guyana is transitioning into an oil economy, and they have to prepare for the transformation. “We have had serious corruption over the years, as have been revealed by many forensic audits, so we have been travelling across the country– region to region– because it is important that you are sensitised about corruption. It is very important that you understand what you can do, and what you ought not to do,” the AG said.

Adding that the “APNU+AFC government has zero tolerance for corruption, because corruption adversely affects the sustainable development of any society and it leads to poverty. We have therefore strengthened the legislative framework to deal with it.”

Regional Chairman of Barima Waini (Region One), Brentnol Ashley, said that persons tend to have negative views on legislation due to lack of understanding as to why these policies and laws are instituted. He (Ashley) however hopes, that from the seminar, that the residence will be properly informed and be empowered to go back into their various communities and disseminate the information gathered.

Newly appointed Regional Executive Officer of the said region, Randolph Storm, told the gathering that corrupt acts rob people of so many benefits. He urged the people of the town, to put into practice what they have learnt. “Don’t rob yourself of “the good life,” do the right thing and we all will benefit… I know that we the citizens of Region One will make every effort based on what we learn today to root out all of the corrupt practices that take place in Barima- Waini,” Storm said.

These seminars sensitise and inform a wide cross-section of stakeholders of their roles and responsibilities in the fight against corruption in public office. This series of sensitisation seminars are an important aspect of the government’s policy to protect the state’s assets and forms part of a comprehensive response to the elimination of corruption in our society.

HOW IT WORKS
The anti-corruption effort is guided by the State Assets Recovery Act. The purpose of this Act is to rid the society of corrupt and wrongful use of state property and to preserve state assets and assets of the people in Guyana. The Act conforms to Guyana’s constitution and no law of the country is infringed.

The State Asset Recovery Act steers the State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA), which is the agency responsible for recovering state assets and properties obtained through unlawful conduct. And protection is granted to anyone coming forward with information about any misconduct in public office that will cause any loss of state assets or revenue under the Protected Disclosures (Whistleblower) Act and the Witness Protection Act.