Dear Editor,
For a nation currently standing at the center of a global economic “gold rush,” Guyana’s relationship with transparency has become a tale of two realities. On Tuesday August 10th Transparency International (TI) released its 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), handing Guyana a score of 40/100. While that single-point nudge upward from last year suggests a country creeping toward reform, the ink on the report was barely dry before the “buts” began to pile up.
The reality of Guyana today is a high-stakes balancing act. On one side, you have a government rapidly building a legislative fortress; on the other, you have a civil society warning that the fortress is being built with no windows.
If you look at the legislative record, Guyana is a “student of the year” candidate. Since 2021, the halls of Parliament have been busy. We’ve seen the reconstitution of the Integrity Commission, the Public Procurement Commission, and a flurry of activity from the National Coordinating Committee (NCC) aimed at meeting international anti-corruption standards.
The government’s defense is rooted in these structures. Their “lived reality” is one of modernizing a 19th-century system into a digital-first economy. They argue that by automating land titles and housing permits, they are removing the “human element”—the very space where a bribe usually changes hands. From this perspective, a score of 40 is a milestone on a long road out of the “morass” of the early 2010s, where scores languished in the high 20s.
The most chilling effect is, the 2025 TI report and the 2024 UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) findings suggesting that laws are only as good as the people allowed to question them. This is where the “pop” of reality hits the pavement.
While the government builds the machinery of transparency, watchdogs claim the operators are being sidelined. The TI report explicitly flags the harassment of “independent media and civil society” In the streets and newsrooms, the lived reality isn’t just about whether a law exists; it’s about whether a journalist can ask where a billion-dollar drainage contract went without facing a “cyber-bullying” campaign or a defamation suit.
“The “State Capture” Conundrum: Last year, TI used a heavy term: State Capture. It’s a sophisticated way of saying that while the front door of the ministry is locked, the back door is wide open for political and economic elites. When several government ministers are alleged to have “fronts” in construction and hospitality, the institutional progress feels, to many, like a coat of paint on a crumbling wall.”
In an emerging “world-class”economy a score of 40 is a “C-minus” in the sphere of governance. It’s better than a failing grade, but it’s nowhere near the honor roll. The paradox lies in the fact that Guyana is currently the fastest-growing economy on the planet. Usually, wealth brings better governance, but in Guyana, the sheer volume of cash has outpaced the speed of the watchdogs.
The UNHRC’s 2024 critique hit this nail on the head, pointing out that even with a Special Organised Crime Unit (S.O.C.U.), the effectiveness of prosecutions against high-level officials remains a whisper in a room full of shouting. The Commissioner of Information—the person designated to give the public answers—has been described by critics as a high—priced gatekeeper rather than a free gateway.
Our holistic conclusion, for you to see the “real” Guyana in 2025, one must look at both the hammer and the shield. The government is using the hammer to build new laws, but civil society is using their voices as a shield against the overreach that often follows sudden wealth.
The jump to 40 points is a statistical win, but a social stalemate. Until the “lived reality” includes a press that can probe without fear and a procurement system where the names on the contracts don’t always match the names at the political rallies, the numbers on the index will remain a secondary story to the atmosphere on the ground.
Regards,
Hemdutt Kumar
