Watching and using Transparency International indexes on Guyana since 2006

Dear Editor,

The Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc was established in June 2010 and has been very active, watchful and involved on issues of corruption in Guyana.

I wonder if they would be that transparent to acknowledge that I had been watching and using Transparency International indexes on Guyana since 2006, that it was I who introduced them (and Guyana) to the German-based institute, or it was (perhaps) from me the idea of a local arm of the institute originated?

After all, when you see the mote in other peoples’ eyes you got to be careful about the same in yours.

As a refresher, I reproduce a letter published in SN, December 19, 2007.

Dear Editor,

In your very expository editorial captioned ‘A dialogue on corruption’ (07.12.17), you posited that “the government may not agree to enlist the World Bank to do a study on corruption…” I agree with you that should any authentic statistics on this industry become publicly available, it would lead to some healthy dialogue, and hopefully productive results.

However, it is extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, to carry out any study on corruption mainly because of the underground character of this industry, and the ruthlessness of its operations.

I wonder if the government, instead of commissioning a new study on corruption, would accept the findings of a Germanbased agency, Transparency International, which in 2006, found that of the 163 countries they studied, Guyana ranked 121. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the least corrupt, Guyana scored 2.8, the second lowest score in the Caribbean, with Haiti being the most corrupt.

I will deal more on the political and social psychology of this industry later. But for now let me say that just as religion and violence are bed-mates in many parts of the world, in the Guyanese society, religion not only seems to ignore but also to absolve corruption.