March 7, 2016 Source

Since Guyana will in the future be an oil producing country with a Sovereign Wealth Fund, former Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran on Saturday urged the APNU+AFC government to swiftly establish anti-corruption mechanisms to prevent dishonest dealings.

“In a few short years we will be joining the club of oil producers. If we allow Guyana to enter that club with an ingrained ethic of corruption still festering, no amount of posturing about the securing and protecting of oil profits in a Sovereign Wealth Fund will prevent the skimming off from the top, before the funds reach the Sovereign Wealth Fund, of a significant portion by corrupt deeds and transactions,” Ramkarran warned.

He was at the time delivering the feature address at the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc (TIGI) annual fundraising dinner, held on Saturday evening at the Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown.

The former two-term Speaker of the House posited that there also must be procedures put in place so that when the fund is established, Guyana’s citizenry is assured that its monies will be spent on its intended expenditures, for infrastructure and social services.

The David Granger Administration has promised that by the end of this year, model legislation will be laid in the National Assembly for scrutiny and debate and nationwide consultations will ensue before, and during, the process of finalising the policy.

Government has also said that a portion of earnings from all of Guyana’s natural resources will be housed within resource wealth management funds to the benefit of all Guyanese in three key areas namely savings for the future generations; budget support in times of economic downturns; and infrastructure development – such as roads to create better access and improve ease of trade and development within hinterland communities and across Guyana, and schools that ensure meaningful investment in children.

Ramkarran, who had been a leading member of the opposition PPP until he quit in 2012 in a row about his concerns over corruption in the country, said that tackling the issue of graft should be a top priority for government, particularly since it was one of their most used and impactful election campaign tools. He pointed out that the APNU+AFC coalition stressed the need for anti-corruption mechanisms and that he believes that systems need to be urgently put in place.

To this end, Ramkarran stressed the need for the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, the reform of the Integrity Commission, the utilisation of the Freedom of Information Act and the passage of anti-corruption legislation as integral in the fight against graft here.

He believes that because Guyanese trust the rating of Transparency International (TI) that this country was one of the most corrupt in the region, coupled with the fact that during the reign of the PPP there were claims of rampant corruption, they voted to have a change in government last year.

And because the coalition government has said that foreign investment is high on its list of priorities, Ramkarran, who had been a member of the PPP for nearly 50 years before leaving, noted that perceptions and reports  of corruption hinder those investments. As such, if government wants to attract foreign investors it must deal frontally with the issue of corruption.

“Although there is little data and research available on the country’s state of governance and corruption, all major governance indicators suggest high and deteriorating levels of perceived corruption in the country and the prevalence of both bureaucratic and political forms of corruption. The scale of the informal and illegal economy is particularly notable, as it breeds criminal activities such as drug and human trafficking or illegal logging that are strongly associated with corruption and coercion…”, he stressed.

“When potential investors read reports such as these … they do consult before making a decision to invest, they hesitate.  They are required to observe the laws of their own countries under which they can be convicted and punished if they engage in bribery and corruption overseas. They get the message that their investment will be unsuccessful unless they are prepared to engage in corrupt activities. They face either failure of the investment or criminal prosecution in their own countries, if they do succumb to the temptations. It is no surprise that some foreign investors shy away from countries which are low on TI’s index,” he added.

Defensive

The former PPP executive said that because the PPP was also very defensive when met with claims of corruption, it also added to their elections defeat last year.

However, he told attendees, and specifically TIGI members, that now that the PPP is out of office their commitment to seeing transparency from their leaders should not be any less. According to him “as day follows night” there will be a time when TIGI and government will have clashes with government’s competing interests. As such he urged TIGI to never relinquish its independent posture or its capacity to hold the Government accountable.

“We recently had a change in Government. One of the major issues in the election campaign was corruption. During the campaign the APNU+AFC coalition severely castigated the PPP/C Government for doing nothing about and even encouraging and participating in corruption. The PPP/C denied the allegations…Popular discontent at corruption is now out of the shadows. No longer are citizens who complain subjected to abuse or told to ‘prove it’ or asked ‘where is the evidence?’ Investigations, inquiries, exposes and forensic audits are exposing the soft underbelly of nepotism, corruption and greed, skillfully perpetrated so as to protect its perpetrators and beneficiaries,” he asserted.

“Popular discontent at corruption must continue to be nurtured because of its high capacity to influence the behaviour of the electorate. Unless politicians take notice, they will bear the consequences of the wrath of those who witness corruption every day, only to be told to prove it. This political cost of corruption, or doing nothing to reduce it, not only gives clout to concerned citizens by his/her vote, but helps to sustain organisations like TIGI over the long haul. And TIGI will need that popular support and that clout because, despite the honeymoon between the TIGI and the Government, you must never make the mistake of believing that your task will be an easy one,” he added.

Making reference to a change in attitudes of public officials who now admit when they are wrong and apologise, he pointed to the admission by Superintendent Kevin Pilgrim, Officer in Charge of the Georgetown Prison, that he cannot deny that some prison officers are corrupt. “It is a breath of fresh air. Unusual for Guyana so far is his public apology for the calamitous events. Acknowledging and recognising that there is a problem is the first stage in solving it. The denial implicit in the demand to ‘prove it,’ has set Guyana back a decade in the fight against corruption,” Ramkarran posited.

Pilgrim was at the time speaking about last Thursday’s deadly Camp Street fire that claimed 17 lives and left several others injured and traumatised.