Corruption helps keep Guyana poor
• Anthony Vieira, MP
Kaieteur News
February 16, 2007
Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) Member of Parliament (MP), Anthony Vieira, took the budget debate to another level on Tuesday when he accused the government of harbouring corruption thus preventing the country's growth.
Vieira while agreeing with an earlier statement by Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy that the budget is indeed small and efforts must be made to spend it wisely asserted that there was a lack of consultation in the preparation of the budget which could prove to be damaging.
The Member of Parliament contended that the Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh “broke tradition” when he failed to invite submissions from local stakeholders including private businesses, the labour movement and consumer advocates.
However, this practice of ignoring the stakeholders, according to Vieira, has been very evident in the past and has ultimately caused Guyana to remain poor.
He made reference to the Barbados budget which not only got the input from the relevant stakeholders in its preparation but is twice the size of Guyana's.
In his argument the MP revealed that in 2006 the World Bank published a study entitled “ How do countries score on governance ” which found clear evidence that countries which have freer presses also have more transparent and effective government as well as more control of corruption.
“The research cited countries such as Chile, Portugal and Canada as nations with vibrant democracies and very little corruption, in contrast to what the report calls protesting voices and accountability challenged countries such as China and Russia where corruption tends to prevail,” Vieira put forward.
He further pointed out, that the latter are doing heavy business with Guyana regarding the bauxite and sugar industries, sarcastically adding that “birds of a feather flock together.”
And in order to identify what corruption does to a nation, the World Bank had labelled it the 300 per cent development dividend, according to Vieira.
“A country which improves in governance would automatically qualify for three times more income per capita in the long term for example moving from $1,000 to $3,000,” he explained.
In this regard he added that the worldwide governance indicators measure six components necessary for essential good governance.
Among them he outlined the allowance of dissenting voices and accountability; paying attention to and measuring political, civil and human rights; effectively measuring the likelihood of violent threats including terrorism; effectively improving government effectiveness through their legislative and regulative actions; effectively cherishing the rule of law and being in control of corruption.
“As a nation we come last in quite a few categories so the claim that Guyana and its government is a corrupt one is supported by a substantial international investigational opinion,” he informed.
• “We are 300 times poorer than we should be and will continue to be so unless we become a nation, which according to the World Bank, cherishes good governance and embraces the six criteria.”