Guyana scored 39 for public sector corruption; anti-corruption law enforcement low- Transparency International

Last Updated on Wednesday, 12 February 2025, 21:43 by Writer

Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption watchdog, on Tuesday gave Guyana a score of 39 in its perception index of corruption in the public sector and noted that the voices of critics and journalists were being smothered.

The Germany-headquartered organisation explains that a country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.

“Although the country has created anti-corruption institutions and laws, transparency and law enforcement are very low, and attacks on dissenting voices, activists and journalists increasingly common,” TI said in its latest global ranking.

TI also said that in Guyana, State capture by economic and political elites fosters misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crime.

While Guyana is ranked 92 out of 180, TI said the rank is not as important as the score in terms of indicating the level of corruption in that country.

Sections of the media, civil society and opinion shapers have been pummelled with criticisms and condemnations whenever they criticise the government or the ruling party.

The data sources used to compile the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) specifically cover manifestations of public sector corruption including bribery, diversion of public funds, officials using their public office for private gain without facing consequences, ability of governments to contain corruption in the public sector, excessive red tape in the public sector which may increase opportunities for corruption, nepotistic appointments in the civil service, laws ensuring that public officials must disclose their finances and potential conflicts of interest, legal protection for people who report cases of bribery and corruption, State capture by narrow vested interests, and access to information on public affairs or government activities.

TI further states that the CPI does not cover citizens’ direct perceptions or experience with corruption, tax fraud, illicit financial flows, enablers of corruption such as lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, money-laundering, private sector corruption, informal economies and the black market.

Leading the Latin American and Caribbean region this year in TI’s corruption score are Uruguay (76), Canada (75) and Barbados (68) – all relatively stable democracies with high levels of transparency and participation. At the other end of the index, states ravaged by organised crime and human rights abuses hold the lowest scores – Haiti (16), Nicaragua (14) and Venezuela (10).

Though TI’s local affiliate is the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc (TIGI), TI said data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. Each country’s score is a combination of at least three data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments, TI added.

The Corruption Perceptions Index is the most widely used global corruption ranking in the world. It measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be, according to experts and businesspersons.

The CPI is the leading measurement for public sector corruption worldwide. It combines many different manifestations of corruption into one globally comparable indicator, offering a more comprehensive picture of the situation in a particular country than each source taken separately. The process for calculating the CPI is regularly reviewed to make sure it is as robust and coherent as possible.