By Svetlana Marshall

Incensed by the latest Transparency International report on perceived corruption, President Irfaan Ali on Thursday hammered the anti-corruption body as dishonest and accused the international organisation of producing a highly tainted report on his Administration’s fight against corruption.

In its latest report, Transparency International said although Guyana has created anti-corruption institutions and laws, transparency and law enforcement are very low, and attacks on dissenting voices, activists and journalists are increasingly common.

The report also pointed to a state capture by economic and political elites fostering misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crime.

After initially offering brief comments to the media on Thursday morning, the President sharpened his ax against Transparency International by the afternoon, and said the organization’s report and findings are not based on facts or any empirical evidence. He made reference to the post-election crisis in Guyana five years ago to question the report’s statements on his Government today.

“Imagine in 2020, when you had a government that was illegally occupying Office, when you had a government that disregarded a no-confidence motion, and ruling of the court, when you had a government that spent more than $600B without parliamentary oversight in 2020, when you had a government that refused to give interviews and respond to the media…is attacks on journalists and dissenting voice greater today than in 2020? When they tried to steal an election, when they drove observers out of the country, when they turned up at the counting station and ordered a former prime minister and head of an observer mission out of the building?” the President questioned.

The President complained that Guyana received a higher ranking on the corruption index in 2020 despite the mountain of allegations against the then Administration of corruption, misappropriation of funds and electoral fraud.

In 2020, Guyana scored 40 and ranked 85th out of a total of 180 countries on the Corruption Perception Index. However, the report was based on the Government’s performance in 2019, at a time when the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna had lauded the country for its fight against corruption.

This year, the international report gave Guyana a score of 39 out of 100 on the Transparency corruption indicator, with 100 being very clean and 0 is seen as highly corrupt.

In dismissing the report and its two paragraphs on Guyana, the President said the country’s prosecution rate is much higher, and those found culpable of breaching the laws of the country, including workers and officials, have been held accountable under his watch.

“More persons came under disciplinary measures in all government agencies but you score less. What is this? What nonsense is this? What mischief and misinformation is this. None of this matters? None of this matters?” he questioned.

President Ali said the local arm of the international organization has not been “transparent” about its own affairs.

According to him, the Transparency Institute of Guyana last filed its Annual Returns to the Registry in 2019.

He said it was the President of the Transparency Institute of Guyana, Frederick Collins who had initiated legal action against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for allegedly failing to enforce the liability causes stipulated in permits issued to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited now known as ExxonMobil Guyana.

“Let me tell you what he did, he has criticized the government’s failure to audit the $9B in cost, this same government who brought in the audit for Exxon’s expenditure. He criticized us, he didn’t say anything about the signing bonus, the US$18M signing bonus. As a matter of fact, he allowed them to be scored high, they got a high score for the US$18M signing bonus. We did an audit, and they got a high score for hiding the US$18M,” the President said.

For the President, he insists that the corruption perception is driven by critics of the government, including individuals in the opposition.

In his Facebook Live statement, he said contrary to the report produced by Transparency International, organizations such as the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Monetary Fund have lauded efforts by Guyana to combat corruption and financial crimes.

In the past year, a number of the President’s own cabinet members have complained publicly about corruption within the Government and the efforts of the Government to weed it out. In July 2024, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo spoke about the influencing of Government contracts for specific persons in some of the regions by officials in those regions.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, had also complained publicly about corruption within the Guyana Police Force and issues related to the procurement of goods and services. Months after his complaint, an Assistant Commissioner of Police was slapped with more than 250 financial crimes charges and a number of other Policemen have faced various corruption charges.

The Government continues to be dogged by claims of corruption in the award of contracts and the distribution of state resources.

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