Teixeira calls out Opposition for “cherry-picking” issues to paint Guyana negatively

– defends Guyana’s anti-corruption efforts

Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira has called out the Parliamentary Opposition for highlighting only issues that put Guyana in a bad light, ignoring the progress the country has made on the international stage.
“We must be proud of what we’ve done in legislation to fight corruption… [But] the problem with the Members of Parliament (MPs) on the other side is that they’re not reading; they’re not looking up stuff. They’re just looking, cherry-picking what makes Guyana look bad and what makes the Government look bad,” Teixeira stated during Friday’s sitting of the National Assembly.
She was at the time responding to questions posed by Opposition Chief Whip, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, about Guyana’s poor ranking by Transparency International (TI) on its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
In its latest report in 2025, TI ranked Guyana 92 out of 180 countries, with a score of 39 out of 100 on its Corruption Perceptions Index – something which the Government had strongly criticised at the time. Reiterating the same concerns in the National Assembly on Friday, Minister Teixeira was quick to point out that this is a perception index and does not use any empirical data to truly reflect the actual situation in the country.
According to the Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, “What it does is that it selects, in every country, based on population, the number of people that are asked to comment on their perception, their subjective views, that is, on what is going on in the country with specific things to do with state corruption, Government efficiency, etc. …Based on the population, it might be two people, it might be one person, or it might be five people over the years… That is how perception is… what you believe, what you think. It’s not what is fact. It’s not what data is.”

In fact, Teixeira noted that even TI itself has indicated in its report that the CPI does not measure actual corruption levels but reflects perceptions. For this reason, the Minister noted that Guyana, and many other countries, do not rely on the CPIs produced by TI, which are often used politically against Governments.
Moreover, she went on to spotlight the double standards of the international body, which works in over 100 nations to combat corruption. According to the Minister, TI is funded by 14 countries from the Global North – all of which receive high rankings in their CPIs. This, she argued, is a clear conflict of interest, which happens to be one of the tenets of corruption.
“Therefore, the question arises of how it is that with TI, the countries that do well all the time are the same countries funding TI, and the countries that do poorly are the Global South – countries such as Guyana, [those in] Africa, India, Pakistan, all those. Doesn’t that bother you as politicians? It doesn’t bother you as politicians, or is it only to use the phrase ‘Oh, here’s data; make the Government look bad’? Use this data and throw it at the Government to make the Government look bad. But you’re not thinking.” Teixeira, who is the Government’s chief whip in Parliament, questioned.
Nevertheless, the Minister highlighted some of the progress made in strengthening and modernising Guyana’s anti-corruption framework. In fact, she noted that Guyana has signed onto a number of international treaties, including the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, the Lima Commitment, the United Nations Declaration on Corruption, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), and even the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), among others – all of which have reported on Guyana’s progress in fighting corruption.
“In the confines of Guyana, what is it we want? Do we want a country that is making efforts… to improve the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of our systems and our agencies and that is governed by law, constitution, protocols, audits, acts, and standards? Or is it the political football that we [use] to shame our country and make our country look bad? Why is that?… Why are we here as Parliamentarians if all we want to do is make Guyana look like a banana republic or something? Why do we want to do that?” Teixeira contended.