Corruption in Guyana rampant - Transparency Int'l
Kaieteur News
December 8, 2006
A report from Germany-based Transparency International (TI) has ranked Guyana among countries where corruption is perceived as rampant, and there is a strong correlation between corruption and poverty.
The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report released this week by TI weighs in on the levels of corruption in 163 countries.
The report places Guyana at 121 with a CPI of 2.5, making it the second lowest to Haiti in the Caribbean Region. Haiti with a CPI of 1.8 is ranked last. In 2005, Guyana received a similar CPI of 2.5 and ranked 117 of 158 countries.
This year's CPI report shows Guyana ranking alongside Benin , Gambia , Honduras , Nepal , Philippines , Russia , Rwanda and Swaziland .
The CPI is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in 163 countries around the world, making it the greatest scope of any CPI compiled since the report was first issued in 1995.
It scores countries on a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.
Almost three-quarters of the countries in the CPI score below five, including all low-income countries, and all but two African states, indicating that most countries in the world face serious perceived levels of domestic corruption.
Seventy-one countries score below three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant. Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8; Guinea , Iraq and Myanmar share the penultimate slot, each with a score of 1.9. Finland , Iceland and New Zealand share the top score of 9.6.
TI, a civil society organisation, states that the report points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.
According to the organisation, the weak performance of many countries indicates that the facilitators of corruption continue to assist political elites to launder, store and otherwise profit from unjustly acquired wealth, which often includes looted state assets.
“The presence of willing intermediaries who are often trained in or who operate from leading economies encourages corruption. It means the corrupt know there will be a banker, accountant, lawyer or other specialist ready to help them generate, move or store their illicit income,” a TI release noted. The TI CPI focuses on corruption in the public sector and defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain.
The surveys used in compiling the CPI ask questions that relate to the misuse of public power for private benefit, for example bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds, or questions that probe the strength of anti-corruption policies, thereby encompassing both administrative and political corruption.
TI notes that it is difficult to assess the overall levels of corruption in different countries based on hard empirical data by comparing the amount of bribes or the number of prosecutions or court cases.
In the latter case, for example, TI notes such comparative data does not reflect actual levels of corruption, but it highlights the quality of prosecutors, courts and/or the media in exposing corruption across countries.
According to TI, one strong method of compiling cross-country data is therefore to draw on the experience and perceptions of those who are most directly confronted with the realities of corruption in a country.