In Guyana’s oil-soaked economy, where billions flow like the Essequibo in flood season, you’d think the business community would be roaring about the PPP’s corruption that’s choking their growth. But no, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) and the Private Sector Commission (PSC) stay mum, as if kickbacks, ghost partnerships, money laundering, and outright cunning aren’t ripping the heart out of honest enterprise. When businesses get squeezed for bribes just to play fair, and have to scrap with ruthless PPP politicians for every contract, how can the sector thrive? It’s a rigged game, and the referees are looking the other way.
PPP corruption isn’t just an abstract moral failure, t’s a direct assault on the bottom line. Businesses are routinely pressured to pay kickbacks, sometimes as high as 10 to 20 percent of contract values, just to secure deals that should go to the most qualified bidder. We’ve seen this play out in the gold sector, and in widespread allegations of bribery and money laundering tied to ministerial ghost partnerships designed to funnel illicit funds. These aren’t isolated incidents, they’re part of a systemic pattern under the PPP, where politicians tap into state projects, set up shell companies, and siphon billions. Brave whistleblowers and influencers expose it daily, pointing out that up to 70% of contracts in some regions go to cronies through blatant favoritism and corruption. Legitimate businesses can’t compete with this machinery. As a result, innovation is stifled, inefficiency rises, and inflated costs drag down the entire economy.
So why the deafening silence from GCCI and PSC? For sure, some are benefiting handsomely from the rot. A tiny handful of insiders, those cozy with the PPP elite, are raking in more money than they’ve ever dreamed, landing sweetheart deals on oil-related projects or infrastructure booms. But the vast majority? They’re not seeing the wealth and success promised in this oil rush. Buildings funded by bank loans are popping up for sale left and right, as owners can’t keep up with the squeeze. Bed and breakfast upgrades, meant to cash in on tourism, are feeling the pinch hard, the government encourages massive hotel projects, like the seven branded ones under construction, promising frameworks to support them while small operators get trampled. Hilton’s dual-branded entry, Marriott expansions, these giants get the red carpet, backed by PPP incentives, leaving local B&Bs scrambling for scraps.
The economic fallout will only continue to escalate. Prices are skyrocketing, inflation’s out of control, with food prices rising as high as 75% over the past 5 years. The IMF notes it, yet the business community must remain silent, fearing reprisals or lost contracts. This culture of silence in Guyana, where corruption meets complicity, keeps the PSC and GCCI quiet, even as audits turn up empty on PPP sins but cost taxpayers dearly. The indifference is staggering; while some profit, the majority buckle under rising costs, unable to hustle freely in a market warped by graft.
Guyana’s business leaders need to wake up. This isn’t sustainability, it’s self-sabotage. If GCCI and PSC won’t call out the PPP’s cunning for what it is, a thief in the boardroom, then the private sector will keep bleeding. Demand transparency, fight the kickbacks, and reclaim the contracts from political ghosts. The oil billions are here, but without cleaning house, they’ll flow straight into corrupt pockets, leaving the rest of you high and dry. The time for silence is over, speak up before the squeeze turns to crush.
