Anti-corruption initiatives essential in bolstering Govt institutions – PM Phillips

As the Government, works assiduously to ensure its agencies function on the key principles of fairness, transparency and accountability, Prime Minister Mark Phillips revealed that several initiatives geared towards tackling corruption in public and private sectors were developed over the years.

He was at the time speaking at the Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Expo being hosted by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
The year’s two-day exhibition is being held in observance of International Anti-Corruption Day and features some 43 exhibitors.
However, the Prime Minister explained that corruption poses a significant threat to the ideology of democracy, as such he noted that the Government is committed to developing policies and frameworks aimed at bolstering the anti-corruption landscape in Guyana.
“Corruption, as you heard before, undermines democracy, Corruption affects economic development and trust in institutions making anti-corruption initiatives essential for promoting fairness, transparency and accountability as we govern the affairs of Guyana. We are committed as a Government to ensure that we promote all legal frameworks and policies aimed at increasing our anti-corruption activities, be it anti-corruption laws, establishing and enforcing laws to criminalise corruption including bribery, embezzlement, fraud and abuse whistleblower protections.”
Phillips added that, the Government has been working with stakeholders at the grassroots level to effectively deal with human rights and corruption.
“We are not only working in an inter-agency or a whole-of-Government approach, we are working in a whole-of-society approach and local advocacy is very important as we promote human rights and awareness of human rights so grassroots movements, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) and the private sector play an important role in promoting awareness and fighting for justice.”
He added, “It is interesting that we link human rights and the work we are doing in that area with anti-corruption activities in Guyana and all perceivable anti-corruption actions that we could think about we are either promoting or advocating through the Government of Guyana’s programmes and also working in collaboration with many private sector agencies. Anti-corruption actions are efforts to prevent, detect and combat corruption in public and private sectors.”
Nevertheless, Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira highlighted that as the country’s institutions become better at identifying and fighting corruption more cases will arise.
“As a country’s institutions become better, more resilient, better trained, better resourced, you will find more corruption. You’ll find more corruption because that’s what they’re supposed to do. And people, I know in the media, some will say, see, you know, I don’t have to quote, you know what they’ll say. But the issue is that as we go forward in the anti-corruption fight, and as we get better, stronger in our investigation, prosecution, that we will be able to find more cases.”
Moreover, Teixeira revealed that the Government has been busy this year with training programmes and workshops seeking to develop the 16 agencies that are a part of anti-corruption in Guyana.
Additionally, she noted that it is important for stakeholders to develop a culture that promotes equality and condemns corruption.
“We create a new culture in our society, an anti-corruption culture and a human rights culture that says that we’re all equal, that we all have equal rights, but also that says, teaches our children that it’s wrong to think that a bribe is necessary to get a licence or whatever. And it is wrong to be able to do anything in terms of corruption. And so we feel that the all-of-society approach begins to lead to a more mature democracy in Guyana, a more mature approach to our issues and challenges.”