United against corruption for development, peace and security

Every year trillion is paid in bribes while an estimated .6 trillion are stolen annually through corruption – a sum equivalent to more than five per cent of the global GDP. In developing countries, according to the United Nations Development Programme, funds lost to corruption are estimated at 10 times the amount of official development assistance.
Corruption is a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies. No country, region or community is immune. This year UNODC and UNDP have developed a joint global campaign, focusing on how corruption affects education, health, justice, democracy, prosperity and development. The 2016 joint international campaign focuses on corruption as one of the biggest impediments to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability. Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is the soliciting of bribes. Economic development is stunted because foreign direct investment is discouraged and small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the “start-up costs” required because of corruption. On 31 October 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and requested that the Secretary-General designate the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as secretariat for the Convention’s Conference of States Parties (resolution 58/4).  The Assembly also designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it. The Convention entered into force in December 2005.
In his message on the 2016 observance, UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon emphasised that No country is immune, and every country bears a responsibility to end it.
Corruption, he said, strangles people, communities and nations. It weakens education and health, undermines electoral processes and reinforces injustices by perverting criminal justice systems and the rule of law. By diverting domestic and foreign funds, corruption wrecks economic and social development and increases poverty. It harms everyone, but the poor and vulnerable suffer most. The theme of this year’s observance is “Corruption: An impediment to the Sustainable Development Goals”.  Goal 16 urges substantial reductions in corruption and bribery and the development of effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. The UN Convention Against Corruption, buttressed by its peer review mechanism, is mobilising action for honest, transparent, accountable governance, but far more is needed. The Secretary-General continued: “On International Anti-corruption Day, let us reaffirm our commitment to ending the deceit and dishonesty that threaten the 2030 Agenda and our efforts to achieve peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet”. Guyana joins the rest of the world in observing this important occasion, even while rumours  of corruption run rampant with the most recent being the controversy over the D’Urban Park Project; this has been dubbed a “scandal of monumental proportion”. Government has been lambasted over their perceived “lack of transparency on the project” and further, the Education Minister has been fingered in an alleged attempt to mislead the populace.  Amidst this, the Head of State, President David Granger publicly announced that there was “nothing secret nor criminal” about the D’Urban Park Development Project when asked to respond to the Opposition’s claim that the Government had not been forthcoming with all of the information with regard to the D’Urban Park Development Project, the creation and registration of HDI, which collected funds for the Project, or Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnaraine’s role as a Director on the company’s Board.
On the cusp on International Anti-Corruption Day, the Education Minister finally broke his silence over his role in the Homestretch Development Inc (HDI) and its role in the development of the D’Urban Jubilee Park Project. He assured that during the more than 40 years he has been a political activist, he has never hidden or engaged in any acts of malfeasance.
The UN Secretary-General urged all Nations, in observance of International Anti-corruption Day, to reaffirm their commitment to ending the deceit and dishonesty that threaten the 2030 Agenda and our efforts to achieve peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet.