“Which country in the world has conquered corruption?” – Teixeira asks former AG

…says fighting corruption a constant battle

Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira, affirmed on Monday that the government’s statement on Guyana’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking was fact-based, highlighting the efforts the People’s Progressive Party (PPPC) government has made in the past four years to strengthen the nation’s anti-corruption framework.

Teixeira was at the time responding to remarks made by former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, which challenged the government’s statement, which criticized the country’s drop in the latest CPI report. Goolsarran suggested that the government was implying there was no corruption, a notion Texeira swiftly rejected.
“There was nothing I was saying in that article or any other that I was insinuating that there was no corruption. So, him saying that I’m saying that there is no corruption or I’m trying to avoid it is absolutely untrue. I was not insinuating that,” Teixeira said.
“Goolsarran ignores in the press statement what our efforts have been made, what has been done. No one has said, nor have I ever said, that we have reached great heights of anti-corruption. But what I can say is that Guyana, in the last four years, has made serious efforts to improve its anti-corruption framework, its anti-corruption systems and to have greater transparency and accountability.”
The minister further stressed that her statement was not an attack on anyone, but simply a defense of the government’s position. Clarifying her position, Teixeira emphasised that she never stated there was no corruption in Guyana.
The minister highlighted several concrete steps taken by the government to enhance transparency and accountability, including the restoration of annual audit reports in 1992, after an over two-decade period in which audits were not conducted during the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) time in government.
“We have audit reports that are laid before Parliament and made publicly available. Transparency involves giving the public access to information to scrutinize,” she stated.
Teixeira emphasised that, despite the challenges, Guyana’s anti-corruption efforts have seen tangible progress, though she acknowledged there is still work to be done.
“Fighting corruption is a constant battle, and our framework is good, but we must strengthen capacity and technical skills.”
Another key point raised by Teixeira was the nature of the CPI itself, which she described as a perception-based index. She pointed out that the index does not measure actual instances of corruption but rather reflects the opinions of a select group of individuals. Texeira questioned the motives of these select contributors and their potential biases.
“Three to five people in Guyana historically have been the experts or the business people that TI relies on to give their perception. These people are never disclosed [but] I suspect, having been around for a while, we know who they are because their position is constantly the same: once the PPPC is in government it’s a problem.”
Teixeira also highlighted the conflict of interest that exists whereby many of the countries that perform well on the CPI also fund Transparency International. She also pointed out a pattern where nations from the Global South, particularly those with large populations of people of colour, consistently score poorly.
“How is it that the global South, which happens to be made up of brown people and black people and other colored people, are always at the bottom, always below 50,” she noted.
In defending Guyana’s position, the minister reminded the public that the country only saw a slight drop of one point on the CPI, a fact often overshadowed in media reports. The Minister also highlighted that, according to the CPI report itself, Guyana had made significant improvements over the last four years.
“It is convenient to talk about Guyana falling by one but they ignore the fact that other countries fell by 8 and 10 and 15 including very large and important countries like the United States for example. And they refused to acknowledge that in the same CPI report it says that Guyana was a significant improver over the last four years,” Teixeira observed.
Reaffirming her commitment to transparency and open dialogue, Teixeira pointed out that under Guyana’s Constitution, everyone has the right to express their opinions, including government ministers.
“Just as influencers and opinion-makers have the right to speak, so do ministers and the government. It cannot be that every time a minister speaks, the naysayers jump up and claim we’re attacking them,” Teixeira said.
“This is not just about my opinion on CPI, this is about using our statement in a factual and analytical way. The government has a right to say we accept the review by X and we don’t accept the review by Y.”
Teixeira made an important point about global corruption rankings, questioning the unrealistic expectations placed on any country to completely eliminate corruption.
“I would ask Mr Goolsarran and other influencers: which country in the world has conquered corruption? Even the countries that have reached 90 out of the 100 index, haven’t reached 100.”