Recently, the PPP’s iNews made a big to-do over the change in Guyana’s position, from 91st in 2017 to 93rd in 2018, out of 180 countries, on Transparency International’s global Corruption Perception Index ranking. According to iNews, this was an indication of a flurry of corrupt activities in Guyana between 2017 and 2018.
What iNews failed to report is that in 2015 Guyana was ranked 116th with a score of 29 out of 100 on the CPI scale. That between 2015 and 2017, the David Granger led Coalition improved this score to 38, and ranking to 91st. In its 2018 report, Transparency International, despite Guyana slippage from 91st to 93rd, cited Guyana as one the few countries with significant improvement on the CPI scale in recent years. Globally, only Belarus performed better than Guyana as it relates to improvement on the scale. In the region, Argentina is the only country showing improvement comparable with Guyana.
Guyana’s slip from 38 to 37 points on the scale seem to be in keeping with the pattern of results international. Even New Zealand and Denmark, two countries at the top of the scale, have recorded fluctuating results from year to year. Notwithstanding, Guyana’s result could be considered a significant achievement given the two earthshaking corruption related events which occurred in 2018.
In 2018, 19 corruption charges against Irfan Ali, a former PPP Minister, were unveiled. This no doubt impacted the perception of corruption in the country. Especially since Irfan Ali continued to sit in parliament, and interact with civil society and the business community, like a choirboy in a white shirt. Which society shrugs off this level of corruption.
Then there is the Charandass Persaud affair. There is no doubt, the perception of the illegal procurement of Charandass Persaud’s vote affected Guyana’s anti corruption credentials. The possibility of corruption at the heart of the democracy and no one flinched. In fact, the rush to eat the poisonous fruit was informative.
It is possible these two events eroded gains Guyana made in other areas. Most likely, Guyana’s score, in keeping with recent trends, would have improved by 4 or 5 points.
Transparency International 2018 corruption report, evaluated against the background of events in 2018, established the progress the government is making in alleviating corruption in Guyana.