Corruption still perceived as rampant here -TI survey

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56529697

Corruption still perceived as rampant here -TI survey
Stabroek News, Thursday, September 27th 2007

Though Guyana has made a marginal improvement in Transparency
International's (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2007 over
last year's survey, it still scored poorly and has again been ranked
among the worst performers.

For 2007, Guyana racked up a score of 2.6 out of 10, barely improving
over 2006 and 2005's score of 2.5. Guyana is placed in the same slot as
countries such as The Comoros, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Mauritania, Niger
and Timor-Leste, all of which have identical scores.

The CPI Score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as
seen by business people and country analysts, and ranges between 10
(highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt). Four surveys were used to come
up with Guyana's score.

For regional countries, Barbados scored 6.9 out of 10 (highest in
Caricom), St Lucia 6.8, Suriname and Brazil 3.5, Trinidad and Grenada
3.4, Jamaica 3.3, Dominican Republic and Belize 3.0. The only Caricom
country that ranked below Guyana was Haiti at 177. Somalia and Myanmar
were last at 179.

Some of the highest scoring countries included New Zealand 9.4, Denmark
9.4, Finland 9.4, Singapore 9.3, Sweden 9.3, Iceland 9.2, the
Netherlands 9.0 and Switzerland 9.0.

The Americas

According to the report, the 2007 CPI shows that corruption remains a
serious challenge in the 32 countries it includes from the Americas,
though some progress is being made.

It said that Costa Rica, among other countries, reflects significant
improvement in its 2007 score and that Uruguay and Canada, among
others, have maintained a relatively high score in past years. "Belize,
on the other hand, is one country with an increase on how widespread
corruption is perceived to be. Nonetheless, good performance cannot be
taken for granted and further action is needed to remedy remaining
corruption risks and to ensure that previous anti-corruption efforts
are sustainable," the report said.

The report said that in the Americas, the anti-corruption fight remains
far from being victorious. "A third of the countries scored below
three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant," it said,
adding that slightly more than two-fifths scored between 3 and 5
indicating that the levels of corruption among public officials and
politicians are perceived to be serious by country experts and
business-people.

The report concludes that only 8 out of the 32 countries are above the
middle range score of 5. It said that this is alarming "considering the
obvious links between corruption and the high levels of poverty,
inequality and violence in the region." According to the report, for
more than a decade, the region has had a comprehensive anti-corruption
framework in place - the Inter-American Convention against Corruption,
a legal instrument that provides a framework for fighting corruption
and is ratified by 33 countries.

"This tool is now reinforced by the United Nations Convention against
Corruption. It is high time that countries move towards effective
implementation of these provisions in the hemisphere," the report said.
The convention was recently ratified by Guyana.

It said that the case of Costa Rica may serve to illustrate the
importance of having autonomous and respected institutions in place
that can help to adequately fight corruption. "Just a few years ago the
country experienced a decrease in its CPI score, which could be
attributed mainly to the fact that former presidents and high level
officials have been found to be involved in bribery scandals," the
report pointed out.

According to the report, the independence and actions of the justice
system in taking up the cases possibly contributed to an improved image
of the government and politicians in the eyes of the expert community
responsible for rating the countries listed in the CPI.

Recommendations

A press release accompanying the report said that developing countries
should use aid money to strengthen their governance institutions,
guided by national assessments and development strategies, "and to
incorporate strengthened integrity and corruption prevention as an
integral part of poverty reduction programmes."

Arguing that good governance begins at home, TI said that the poorest
countries suffer most under the scourge of corruption.

"And it is ultimately their responsibility to tackle the problem. Low
scores in the CPI indicate that public institutions are heavily
compromised. The first order of business is to improve transparency in
financial management, from revenue collection to expenditure, as well
as strengthening oversight and putting an end to the impunity of
corrupt officials.

"An independent and professional judicial system is critical to ending
impunity and enforcing the impartial rule of law, to promoting public,
donor and investor confidence. If courts cannot be relied upon to
pursue corrupt officials or to assist in tracing and returning illicit
wealth, progress against corruption is unlikely.

"Partnering with civil society and citizens is another essential
strategy for developing countries seeking to strengthen the
accountability of government. Civil society organisations play a vital
watchdog role, can help stimulate demand for reform and also bring in
expertise on technical issues," said Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director
of Transparency International. "But, increasingly, many governments are
moving to restrict the operating space of civil society."

The Transparency International release said also that judicial
independence, integrity and accountability must be enhanced to improve
the credibility of justice systems in poorer countries. "Not only must
judicial proceedings be freed of political influence, judges themselves
must be subject to disciplinary rules, limited immunity and a code of
judicial conduct to help ensure that justice is served."

It added that a clean and capable judiciary is essential if developing
countries are to manage requests for assistance in the recovery of
stolen assets from abroad.

"Governments must introduce anti-money laundering measures to eradicate
safe havens for stolen assets, as prescribed by the United Nations
Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Leading banking centres should
explore the development of uniform expedited procedures for the
identification, freezing and repatriation of the proceeds of
corruption. Clear escrow provisions for disputed funds are essential,"
the press release said.

It stated too that wealthy countries must regulate their financial
centres more strictly and that focusing on the roles of trusts,
demanding knowledge of beneficial ownership and strengthening
anti-money laundering provisions are just a few of the ways that rich
governments can tackle the facilitators of corruption.

According to Transparency International, the world's wealthiest
governments must strictly enforce the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention,
which criminalises the bribery of foreign public officials. "Lack of
compliance with the convention's provisions continues to hinder
corruption investigations and prosecutions," the press release said.

The CPI is carried out for Transparency International by Prof. Johann
Graf Lambsdorff of the University of Passau in Germany.

Transparency International is a global civil society organisation
leading the fight against corruption. It has more than 90 locally
established national chapters and chapters-in-formation. These bodies
fight corruption in the national arena in a number of ways.

They bring together relevant players from government, civil society,
business and the media to promote transparency in elections, in public
administration, in procurement and in business.