A MAJORITY of Guyanese may not know about one of the most famous expressions in journalism – “follow the money.” It is associated with the Washington Post (WP) reporting on the Watergate scandal. The FBI source that was helping the WP’s reporters – Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein – told them to “follow the money,” and they will know who the main culprits are.
As mentioned last week, I will report on questions asked of me by readers and clarifications they offer on my themes. I got a response from a very high level former member of government on my Tuesday article on the USAID activities in Guyana.

He said there was a vital dimension I left out. His pointing to the omission was the broad perspective on corruption in advanced Western countries that he wanted me to write about. So here is what he told me. Before I go into that, let me clearly state that banking statements, balance sheet analysis, accountancy etc. are not my area. I have no training or experience in finance.
I can ruminate on Hegel’s dialectics, Marx’s theory of class struggle and Heidegger’s theory of the purpose of human existence, but I know nothing about financial science. So I listened to him, and what he said about corruption in Western “democracies” with a pyrotechnical example from USAID activities in Guyana made sense. I accept his elaboration and thus I am describing it here.
According to him, in the annual country report of the local USAID office to USAID head office in the US, the account for monies spent list item for item but no specifics. So, the annual report would put $20 million for the literacy programme; $10 million for malaria eradication; 10 million for strengthening civil society.

The conspiratorial element is that there are no specifics in relation to civil society. The annual report does not enumerate the recipients. The head office then prepares its report for Congress. But because Lesotho, Fiji, Gabon (as examples) are small unknown countries, Congress does not bother to ask which organisations in civil society received the $10 million allocated for civil society.
This is how in Guyana, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Amerindian People’s Association, Red Thread, the TUC, Guyana Human Rights Association, among others, got its USAID funding. But in its annual report, there is no mention of these entities. They are not named but fall under the category of civil society.

If someone in the USAID head office in the US and in Congress should ask about an organisation in Guyana named SASOD, there would be no documentation to lead them to identify who or what is SASOD in Guyana. The explanation is obvious; the individual country report does not name specific organisations in civil society that receive funding from the USAID. So, it begs the question – how can you follow the money when there are no traces of the money?

I am thankful for this information because it adds to my knowledge of the role of corruption in the advanced economies of the West. Here is an impeccable example, where state funds are channelled to recipients and there is no accountability. Yet the West is obsessed with lecturing the Global South on anti-corruption mechanisms.

There is a Western diplomatic mission in Guyana that in 2023 gave an Amerindian organisation that is zealously anti-PPP, $26 million (Guyanese) drawn from a Barbadian account. This money was for the local government election (LGE). Although the organisation did not contest the election, the money was given to other groups that were participants in the LGE.
Researchers will find no record of that Amerindian group getting $26 million because the line item in the embassy’s report does not identify the names of the recipients, just the broad category of “civil society.” I was laughing all the way to the bank when I heard that President Trump has shut down USAID. Look when the closure comes – in an election year in Guyana.
The AFC and the imminent political parties are reeling from the decapitation of the USAID because there will be no funds to come from USAID for the 2025 general and regional elections. Those small parties that will soon be born will be left high and dry. Anti-PPP civil society groups are in trouble.

In 2015 and 2020, these groups got lots of money from USAID for the campaign named – “Vote like a Boss.”
For all the mouth Mark Benschop has let him deny that he told me about the role the USAID played when he went into electoral politics in 2015.
I visited Team Benschop’s campaign office on Quamina Street, rented from an American-based company and that rent had to be a million monthly. I expect Benschop to reply and cuss me down. But I could not be bothered.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.