Guyana is the most corrupt country in the English Speaking Caribbean-2014 Report

Dec 04, 2014 News

“Corruption undermines democracy, weakens the rule of law and perpetuates poverty…Corruption hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of persons in a position of authority.”

Guyana has improved by three points over its 2013 rating on the Global Corruption Perception Index, but the country remains at the bottom of the list of English Speaking Caribbean countries.
The result of the 2014 Annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) was released yesterday and out of the 175 countries surveyed by the international body, Guyana ranked 124, with a score of 30 .(0 being highly corrupt;100 being very clean.)
The only other countries in the region that ranked below Guyana were Haiti and Venezuela.
Guyana’s rating places it among countries such as Vietnam, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Mauritania.
Countries in the region that outperformed Guyana significantly include Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago which scored 38 points, Dominica with 58 points, St Vincent and the Grenadines which racked up 67 points and Barbados which scored 74 points.
The Bahamas was awarded 71 points.
The top five performers in the world were Denmark at number one with New Zealand, Finland, Sweden and Norway following.
According to the international anti corruption body’s local arm, “The ranking of Guyana on the 2014 CPI is just another international indicator which taken together with the local reality, simply increases the public perception that corruption remains a chronic problem in Guyana of crisis proportions.”
Transparency International Guyana (TIGI), following the release of the results yesterday, repeated its earlier calls for the larger members of civil society such as the Guyana Bar Association, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers, Private Sector Commission, Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and the trade unions among others, to get involved in combating corruption.
It called on the civil society bodies to speak out against corruption and be proactive within its own membership on tackling the scourge.
TIGI also called on the civil society bodies to partner with TIGI in order to embrace more collective efforts.
“These organizations have the potential to influence change but have been largely silent on the corruption epidemic which continues to have a debilitating effect on Guyana’s development,” said TIGI.
The local anti corruption body reminded too that, “corruption undermines democracy, weakens the rule of law and perpetuates poverty…corruption hurts everyone who depends on the integrity of persons in a position of authority.”
José Ugaz, Chair of the international body, following the release of the results called on countries at the bottom, such as Guyana, to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of its people.
TIGI as a result, renewed its previous calls to government for measures such as the urgent appointment of members of the Integrity Commission; the urgent appointment of members of the Public Procurement Commission; Implementation of laws to regulate election campaign financing; Implementation of modern anti-corruption legislation; Implementation of whistle blowing legislation and the enforcement of existing anti-corruption laws by investigating and prosecuting the corrupt, among other measures.
The findings on Guyana by the international anti corruption body is based primarily on surveys carried out by four reputable international institutions – the International Country Guide, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and the Global Insight Country.
The administration over the years has repeatedly rejected the findings by Transparency International and has accused the body of soliciting only the views of a few anti government activists.