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FM
Former Member

Guyana has been ranked the highest in the Caribbean for countries where citizens have had to pay bribes to access Government services.

According to a report published by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), it also takes the longest to conduct business in Guyana with the average time being over five hours.

The report titled ‘Wait No More: Citizens, Red Tape and Digital Government’ was published this month.

The report referred to the 2019 Transparency International survey which states that the proportion of people in the five Caribbean countries surveyed that reported paying a bribe to access a public service was 18 percent.

“Data from this same survey show that the percentage of people who pay bribes in exchange for services varies throughout the region: in Guyana 27 percent of those surveyed said they had to pay a bribe to access a public service, the highest proportion in the region,” according to the IDB published report.

Guyana was followed by 20 percent in The Bahamas and 17 percent in both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados registered the lowest rate, with only 9 percent of the surveyed reporting having paid a bribe to receive a public service.

It cited manual government transactions, face-to-face interactions, and the lack of standardized processes mean that transactions as being responsible for dishonest behavior.

When looking at the differences between Caribbean countries, “Guyana had the slowest times,” to conduct business. According to the report, it takes a citizen on average 5.9 hours to complete one transaction.

In Barbados, this was 4.8 hours on average while in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, completing a government transaction took on average 4.1 and 3.9 hours, respectively.

Bahamas had the lowest average times of the Caribbean with at 2.8 hours.

One of the major contributors to this sloth is the lack of adequate services online.

The annual report pointed out that basic conditions for making online transactions accessible are often absent.

“For starters, it is complicated, if not impossible, to effectively make government transactions available online, beyond ad hoc efforts, without knowing exactly which transactions are managed by which government entities and the characteristics (purpose, requirements, cost) of each”

Of the 25 countries consulted, 19 reported knowing how many government transactions existed, and 15 reported having a catalog of transactions.

Another key platform service is the digital signature, which enables applicants to sign documents or forms online without having to submit a physical copy, and thereby reducing number of visits to a government office.

Without the digital signature, there are many government transactions that—despite being digitized—still require an in-person visit to comply with this requirement.

It was found that 25 of 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have a law establishing the legal validity of the digital signature. In fact, only Guyana lacks such a law.

However, having a legal framework does not necessarily mean that there is a digital signature in place that can be used by all citizens and that is accepted by all private and public institutions.

“Even if governments make the effort to put transactions online and citizens can, in theory, access them, oftentimes their experiences are negative. A lack of usability of government websites leads them to fail in their attempts to access services,” according to the report.

It recommended that government websites all follow one format, making it easier for citizens to use.

The survey was done in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Guyana via a Face-to-face survey methodology.

Data were collected from a nationally representative sample of adults aged 18 or above using a proportionate to population size sampling approach. The samples were distributed across all regions of the countries according to their population sizes.

The final completed samples were weighted to be nationally representative according to age, gender, region, level of urbanisation, and social grade

https://newsroom.gy/2019/12/27...-to-do-business-idb/

 

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Dave posted:

 

It cited manual government transactions, face-to-face interactions, and the lack of standardized processes mean that transactions as being responsible for dishonest behavior.

This reminds me of doing business in India.  And if you don't go through an "Agent", you run in circles forever.  The Agents are the conduit for the bribes!

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Bribery is a way of life in Guyana. The givers and takers need to be charged for soliciting and offering bribes. I will say this without hesitation that we have a GNI member who is guilty of giving bribes at CJIA each time he arrives in Guyana. It comes from the horse's mouth himself. He is one example of the number of people that I spoke to on the issue of bribery. Bribery is corruption and the people who give or take bribes should be jailed.  

FM
Baseman posted:

Banna, India gatt nuff nuff corrupt!  

Banna, why yuh gun bring in India when we talking about Guyana and corruption? There is a lot of corruption all over the world. Even Good ol USA is now corrupted by Trump but that shall pass next November. Leh we focus pun Guyana's corruption nuh? 

FM
Baseman posted:

Banna, India gatt nuff nuff corrupt!  

If you don't give a bribe in Guyana and you are at the airport clearing your luggage, you might be stuck for hours getting harassed. The civil servants know how to play the delay game.

FM

Skelly, I NEVER paid a friggin Bribe!!  I got Drivers License, Tax clearance, Passports. Hire Car driver Lic, marriage cert, divorce certificate and was certifies as a Pung Pang Master

Nehru
Nehru posted:

Skelly, I NEVER paid a friggin Bribe!!  I got Drivers License, Tax clearance, Passports. Hire Car driver Lic, marriage cert, divorce certificate and was certifies as a Pung Pang Master

Nehru, a couple of times I had to. It took about 3 hours to get to Skeldon then. The black guy held my luggage at the end and was waiting. My parents were waiting and the minibus driver was getting impatient. My folks did not know if we were on the plane or not. So I finally asked him what will take to expedite my luggage. I gave him $10 and he got some guys to take my luggage to my bus.

FM

My next door neighbor is custom enforcement and my father's friend.  Whenever me and my son go, he would come get us. Also make sure dem bais at CJIA dont take stuff out your bag knowing how they does operate.

Sheik101
Sheik101 posted:

My next door neighbor is custom enforcement and my father's friend.  Whenever me and my son go, he would come get us. Also make sure dem bais at CJIA dont take stuff out your bag knowing how they does operate.

I ain't going back to Guyana. I don't care if I ever board another plane. I hate flying.

FM
Baseman posted:

Ayuh like double talk!  I referred to India because some referred to Africa!  Guyana has always been corrupt both under the PPP and PNC!  Suh shut ayuh pokes!!

Tell dem deh bai.

Sheik101
skeldon_man posted:
Sheik101 posted:

My next door neighbor is custom enforcement and my father's friend.  Whenever me and my son go, he would come get us. Also make sure dem bais at CJIA dont take stuff out your bag knowing how they does operate.

I ain't going back to Guyana. I don't care if I ever board another plane. I hate flying.

Guyana nice bai skelly. Just dont tek pus around

Sheik101
Sheik101 posted:
skeldon_man posted:
Sheik101 posted:

My next door neighbor is custom enforcement and my father's friend.  Whenever me and my son go, he would come get us. Also make sure dem bais at CJIA dont take stuff out your bag knowing how they does operate.

I ain't going back to Guyana. I don't care if I ever board another plane. I hate flying.

Guyana nice bai skelly. Just dont tek pus around

Nobody left there for me except one cousin, an uncle, and my parents' tombs.

FM
Baseman posted:

Ayuh like double talk!  I referred to India because some referred to Africa!  Guyana has always been corrupt both under the PPP and PNC!  Suh shut ayuh pokes!!

Bai, wheh yuh see Africa mentioned before yuh post? 

FM
ksazma posted:
Baseman posted:

Ayuh like double talk!  I referred to India because some referred to Africa!  Guyana has always been corrupt both under the PPP and PNC!  Suh shut ayuh pokes!!

Bai, wheh yuh see Africa mentioned before yuh post? 

Oh. Was the other thread!😜

FM
Baseman posted:
ksazma posted:
Baseman posted:

Ayuh like double talk!  I referred to India because some referred to Africa!  Guyana has always been corrupt both under the PPP and PNC!  Suh shut ayuh pokes!!

Bai, wheh yuh see Africa mentioned before yuh post? 

Oh. Was the other thread!😜

Rass bai.

Sheik101
Baseman posted:
Demerara_Guy posted:

Basewoman loosing out huge farts all the time.

Diaper_Guy you are overdue for a change!

Well Basewoman, quickly change your heavily-soiled bloomers or perhaps you love and enjoy being in them.

FM
Baseman posted:
ksazma posted:

Me pepperpot should done tiday. Was prappa good.

Funny, I had my last today!  All wash and tun down!

Bai, I didn’t even eat mine with bread. I bought 11 loaves of bread and gave away 8. We gave away pepperpot too. We didn’t keep too much for us.

FM
Prince posted:

Bribery is a way of life in Guyana. The givers and takers need to be charged for soliciting and offering bribes. I will say this without hesitation that we have a GNI member who is guilty of giving bribes at CJIA each time he arrives in Guyana. It comes from the horse's mouth himself. He is one example of the number of people that I spoke to on the issue of bribery. Bribery is corruption and the people who give or take bribes should be jailed.  

Why does anyone need to give bribes at CJIA?

Bibi Haniffa
Last edited by Bibi Haniffa
Prince posted:

Baseman should keep India out of Guyana. Even if the world is corrupted, Guyana should choose its own destiny. But then again, that's a hard sell. 

Hi Mr. Prince, I would like to get in contact with you about a important matter. PM me when you receive this or email me. Thank you, it’s important. 

FM
Sean posted:

Who de rass is Shane ?

Posters will now get confused with Sean and Shane. Ow me lard ! Anyway, me is Sean by the lake and me hope dat Shane is by de black wata or salt wata. 

Hi I’m Shane. They won’t get confused. Lol

FM

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