IT is difficult to see how guilt could be ascribed on the basis of a perception alone, but there appears to be an obsession with equating the perception of corruption to corruption actually existing for which the latter would require a higher burden of proof.

For what it’s worth, Guyana has made significant strides in improving the national anti-corruption framework in the last two decades. Only recently, government hosted an Anti-Corruption Framework Training Workshop. Guyana has a robust anti-corruption framework built around a consultative process and enshrined in the constitution with a power-sharing model adequately intertwined to increase inclusion. These processes date back to the year 2000 during the constitutional reform process, which created many of the systems and processes we know now.

Today, the country benefits from a mixture of laws; constitutional agencies; statutory bodies and parliamentary committees, all working as pressure valves addressing the multitude of issues which could affect the country’s corruption assessment, including the Integrity Commission, the soon-to-be sworn-in Public Procurement Commission, and the Service Commissions, to name a few.

Chaired by a member of the parliamentary opposition, the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly remains a prime example of the power of bipartisanship as public-funded entities at the central and local government levels appear before the committee to answer queries raised by the Auditor General in annual audit reports tabled in the National Assembly. Those hearings are attended by accounting officers of the respective agencies and their support teams. On the technical side, the committee’s work is supported by the Auditor General, Accountant General, and Finance Secretary.

Added to this, anti-corruption measures are part of Guyana’s obligations in the international system at regional and international levels. With compliance to each international anti-corruption measure, Guyana is obligated to submit to the periodic reporting mechanisms associated with the respective obligation. In 2001, Guyana was one of the first countries to ratify the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, which is the oldest and the first convention of its kind. The country, similarly, acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2008, adopted the Lima Commitment for Democratic Governance Against Corruption in 2018, and committed to the UN General Assembly Special Session’s Political Declaration on Corruption. Even further, Guyana committed to the Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) Working Group specialized in preventing and combating corruption. The list of Guyana’s international obligations is long.

Since coming to office in 2020, the Dr Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C government prioritized transparency and accountability in every way possible. Considering that at the time of the PPP/C’s ascent to office the country was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, government managed the pandemic response, strengthening the social safety net considering the negative economic impacts of the pandemic, and at the same time continued to build on the framework to govern Guyana’s oil and gas sector.

Central to the PPP/C government’s building of the oil and gas framework, with Guyanese in mind, was repealing the Natural Resources Fund Act attempted by the former APNU+AFC government and restructuring it in such a way that the new version removed the cumbersome formula employed by the last government for calculating withdrawals from the fund, and ensured a new provision which mandated the Finance Minister to make public disclosures or face a hefty prison term, once found guilty of violating the law. It should also be noted that the APNU+AFC government had attempted to pass their version of the NRF law through the Parliament in early 2019 even though they had lost the No Confidence Motion in December 2018.

The current version of the NRF law fully complies with the Santiago Principles which are aimed at protecting the international investment landscape and, among other things, “ensure that SWFs [Sovereign Wealth Funds] have in place a transparent and sound governance structure that provides adequate operational controls, risk management, and accountability.”

There is no denying that the PPP/C government is committed to consistently working with stakeholders to build the country’s anti-corruption framework. Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira, succinctly told workshop attendees at the anti-corruption framework training recently: “… our focus should be on a systematic approach to ensure that we do not operate in silos.
“We have to develop a systematic approach to dealing with anti-corruption [sic] in our country… when we look at what is our framework and the role of the various agencies, which structure and deal with the elements of the anti-corruption framework, we recognize the need for a more systematic approach”. When dealing with public systems, there is always room for improvement. A superb character of leadership is recognizing where challenges exist and working to fill those gaps.

Despite the many claims by the APNU+AFC when in government, and continuing now, that the former PPP/C government led by Mr Donald Ramotar was corrupt, which caused the then government to act on that perception to criminally charge a number of persons who were senior officials from Mr Ramotar’s administration, none of those charges stuck. Even after five years in office and many efforts to weaponise state agencies such as the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) and the then State Asset Recovery Agency (SARA) against former PPP/C government officials, all of the attempts fell through the cracks.

Much like the tone of the VICE News report on corruption in Guyana, which simply conjectured about corruption in public office and left a significant amount of open-ended questions without evidence, the perception of corruption is just that—an unfounded perception. The unfortunate thing, however, is that the truth and the reality of the situation are sometimes not bandied as far and as wide as spurious claims.