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—cited for significant improvements during years of APNU+AFC
Guyana slid two points down on Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), scoring 39 out of 100, and ranking 87th out of 180 countries.
When the Coalition left office Guyana had been indexed at 40 out of 100 having steadily climbed the ladder, moving from a score of 29 in 2015. According to Transparency International, a country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.
In its CPI 2021 Report, TI said Guyana is among two countries that have shown improvements within the last decade, despite moving two scores down. Those years of improvement were all recorded under the APNU+AFC Government.
“This year the Americas region includes 22 countries that show no statistically significant changes in their corruption levels. In that last 10 years, only Guyana (CPI score: 39) and Paraguay (3) have made noteworthy improvements,” TI stated it in its report “CPI 2021 FOR THE AMERICAS: A REGION IN CRISIS.”
Last year, the global anti-corruption watchdog urged greater transparency in the response to Covid-19, warning against graft and skewed tendering processes.
During the life of the previous government Guyana made significant gains on the index.
It noted that during the same period, three of the region’s strongest democracies – the United States (67), Chile (67) and Canada (74), showed a decline, while only Uruguay (73) remains stable. Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua, which are deemed to be non-democratic states – scored the lowest with 14, 20 and 22 points, respectively.
“With an average score of 43 out of 100 for the third consecutive year in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the countries of the Americas have ground to a halt in the fight against corruption. Despite extensive legislation and a regional commitment to control this scourge, corruption in the Americas continues to undermine democracy and human rights,” it said.
It pointed out that throughout 2021, the region witnessed serious attacks on freedoms of speech, the press and association, which are fundamental civil and political rights needed to build healthy democracies free from corruption. It noted that in countries like Brazil (38), Venezuela (14), El Salvador (34) and Guatemala (25), governments used intimidation, defamation, fake news and direct attacks against civil society organisations, journalists and activities – including those fighting corruption – as a way to discredit and silence critics.
“Presidents in the region – such as Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and NayibBukele in El Salvador – turned the fight against corruption into a campaign rallying cry, in an attempt to win over an electorate disillusioned with traditional politics, tired of corruption and determined to see their human rights upheld. Contrary to their own promises, these populist figures have made no progress in controlling corruption but instead have deployed anti-democratic and regressive measures that violate people’s rights,” TI explained.
