President Ramotar says…Guyana has lowest corruption rate in entire Caribbean and most of the world
– PPP/C restored accountability
By Desilon Daniels
Despite his government being accused almost daily of condoning corruption, President Donald Ramotar has come out and said that not only are the claims against his government mostly untrue but also that Guyana has the lowest corruption rate in the entire Caribbean and among other countries.
President Donald Ramotar
During Sunday’s broadcast of the radio programme Hard Talk, Ramotar added that his government had been the one to restore accountability in Guyana.
In an interview that lasted more than an hour, Ramotar said that although corruption in Guyana is present, the extent of it is inflated. He said that the extent of corruption that exists in Guyana is nothing near to what is being propagandized for political purposes.
Pointing to a series of corruption debates held during his tenure, Ramotar said that the Opposition was unable to prove any instance of major corruption. Nonetheless, he said, the opposition continues to “push the line” to gain political mileage.
He further said that reports of corruption are not necessarily based on a great amount of facts.
Instead, he said, “a lot of distortion has taken place”.
Ramotar opined that in the early days, his administration made a mistake in not immediately responding to accusations of corruption.
“We probably thought that they were talking nonsense and people would see through them but in fact it does takes on traction,” Ramotar said.
He continued, “But, if you go to real corruption, I suspect that we probably have the lowest corruption rate in the whole Caribbean and most other countries.”
He further said that the question of corruption is linked to the question of accountability. He stated that his government was the one to restore accountability in Guyana and to be transparent. He said that since his government came into power, government books have been audited every year. He said too that Guyana’s Cabinet is the only cabinet in the whole Region and probably the whole Commonwealth that does not award contracts. Instead, he said, they simply give No Objections and allow the awarding of contracts to be done by the National Tender Board.
However, when questioned on claims of the bidding process for contracts not being done impartially, Ramotar in turn questioned who made these claims and if there was evidence to back up the accusations. Seemingly irked, he also questioned what better system is there than the bidding system that can be implemented. He said that if a better system is recommended to be put in place, his government is ready to go with it.
However, he said, “That is the problem in this country; general statements with nothing to back it up and nothing to put in place.”
Ramotar’s claims of Guyana being the least corrupt country in the Caribbean and in most parts of the world is in stark contrast to recent data coming out of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
In 2014, Guyana was ranked the most corrupt nation in the English-speaking Caribbean. Out of the 175 countries surveyed by the international body, Guyana ranked 124, with a score of 30, zero being highly corrupt while 100 was very clean. The only other countries in the Region that ranked below Guyana were Haiti and Venezuela.
However, despite these glaring reports, Ramotar maintains that corruption in Guyana is only a perception and not fact.
No super salaries here
Meanwhile, Ramotar also addressed accusations of his Ministers receiving “super salaries” during his interview. He denied these accusations and said that his government has always been “above board”. He said that a total account of all monies and what Ministers earn is submitted to the Integrity Commission.
“For me, I do it myself and my Ministers do that and therefore I do not think, I know that they do not get super salaries,” Ramotar emphasized.
In fact, he said, his Ministers probably deserve more than what they get “because they work 24 hours a day yet they do not get super salaries.”
He further said that the gap between the rich and the poor has been closing over time. Speaking on the huge homes and expensive rides owned by many of his Ministers, Ramotar said that more ordinary, working people have their own homes now than ever before.
He said too that, in regard to his Ministers’ homes, the most important question is how they got them. He added that their lavish lifestyles can be explained.
“Logically, they can show how [they got it] and that is why they submit all of these things to the Integrity Commission; they can all show how they have been able to possess what they have.”
Meanwhile, Ramotar also spoke on the issue of Ministers and government officials using millions of taxpayers’ dollars to conduct medical procedures such as dental work.
Speaking specifically on two Ministers, who used funds to fix their teeth, Ramotar said that these Ministers were not being looked at closely.
“I don’t want to sit here and justify that, but I will say that that will never happen again; we are putting other systems in place to prevent such things from ever happening again,” Ramotar said.
