Dear Editor,
GRATEFUL if you publish the following article in your letters columns. Thank you.
As the major political parties heat up their campaign rhetoric, Guyanese have to consider the implications of voting for officials who have been implicated in corruption. The question, therefore, is: Is there is a difference between a thief and a corrupt politician?
The short answer is, “No!” The corrupt politician collects the money he steals from taxpayers, and from persons and businesses who include the cost of paying his bribes in their estimates which they submit for government contracts, hence the name ‘White Collar Criminal’. They are difficult to catch.

Whether in cash up-front, via foreign accounts, or in kind, all proceeds received by politicians through corruption are stolen funds. Of course, politicians may receive bribes for all kinds of favours, from influencing the courts to whatever you can bribe them for.
Moving beyond the corrupt politician are those who allow and turn a blind eye to their corrupt ministers, thereby facilitating the theft of taxpayers’ money. Whether or not they benefit directly from the proceeds of corruption, they are responsible for, and facilitate corruption, which, over time, becomes organised crime within the corridors of government.
Guyana has some clearly identifiable thieves and facilitators of organised crime within our political system, who we should think twice about allowing back into Government. Here Guyanese are asked to consider the record of previous administrations of the PPP. If we can’t hire thieves to run our businesses, we can’t use thieves to run our government.

Regards,
Craig Sylvester