Granger denies knowledge of Govt corruption

– promises to investigate when reports are made

By Jarryl Bryan

President David Granger has said he does not know of any corruption existing within the administration he heads, even though Government’s accountability and transparency have been put in the spotlight on a number of instances.
Midway into the APNU/AFC term in office, he insists he would do whatever is possible to ensure the integrity of his ministers, and has declared that “God couldn’t confirm that His people wouldn’t be compromised by adultery.”
“He gave them Ten Commandments, and people are still compromised after thousands of years. How can I do that? I’ll do everything possible under the law to ensure the integrity of the Government and the corporations,” Granger noted.
Granger vowed to have reports of corruption investigated. And even as Guyana prepares itself for oil production and more revenues from 2020, the President has noted the magnitude of the industry, and the need to ensure its integrity.
“If any malfeasance is reported to me, I will take action to have it investigated; and if there are culprits, the culprits will be subjected to the process of law. We want to ensure that our children will benefit from what is about to take place. We’ve been very cautious,” he explained.
“Luckily, we have time to ensure that not only is the legislation, but also the education that is necessary and the organisation at the Government level (are) put in place. So we will do everything possible to protect that industry, and to make sure our children benefit. I don’t know of anyone being compromised in my Government, and if I get such a report, I will surely investigate it,” he declared.

Corruption
In the latest edition of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, Guyana has been ranked at 108 place, an improvement by 11 places. But the results were subsequently disputed by local anti-corruption watchdog Transparency Institute of Guyana Incorporated (TIGI).
The group has said that any improvement in standing should be celebrated, even as efforts are directed towards greater gains in the fight against the scourge. However, TIGI noted that the difference in the corruption score between 2015 and 2016 lacks statistical significance, even at the 10 per cent level.
“The statistics therefore offer no confirmation of the apparent improvement,” the organisation noted.
TIGI has said the statistical test is conservative, since the number of surveys used in 2015 and 2016 (four and six respectively) are small.
“But given that this is about the number of surveys, rather than about the number of respondents, statistical significance would be an especially limited way to view the results, since it is unlikely that there will ever be very large numbers of surveys to use. We should therefore rely more on the substantive interpretations of the index,” the body stated.
Additionally, TIGI pointed out that within Latin America, changes in Government regimes are usually accompanied by a period of goodwill that endures an average of approximately two years.
This, TIGI said, suggests that the change in Government in 2015 would have ushered in a period of optimism that would be evident across several issues, including confidence in Government and perceptions about corruption.
“One can therefore argue that improvement in the 2016 CPI was to be expected. This argument becomes more attractive if the CPI returns to its usual level subsequently… The argument for real achievements will find support if the improvement holds in subsequent years. Nevertheless, neither argument is entirely proven or disproven, depending on what happens subsequently; since there can be real change, followed by real deterioration, or a goodwill ripple, followed by real achievements,” TIGI said.
Furthermore, the local transparency arm said the perception scores measure perceptions about the absence of corruption; and for this reason, low scores are indicative of more pervasive corruption. TIGI noted that when these scores are converted to ranks, lower ranks (larger rank values) on the CPI indicate relative pervasiveness of corruption.
Government has been facing much heat from the political Opposition as well as civil society. They have been criticised for the controversial Sussex Street bond, the Hope Wind Farm project, a $605million sole-sourced drug contract, the handpicking of a Dutch firm to conduct a feasibility analysis on a new Demerara Harbour Bridge, among others.
Most recently, Government has faced flak for collecting a US$18 million bonus from oil giant ExxonMobil last year. Despite being asked repeatedly about it, Government did not come clean until proof of the transaction recently came to light.