According to Transparency International’s most current Corruption Perceptions Index, Guyana’s efforts to combat corruption have stalled in the wake of the nation’s successful recovery from the previous administration.
The nation’s score was lower than 30 when the PPP/C left the government in 2015, but it increased gradually to 41 during the APNU+AFC administration. According to the worldwide coalition against corruption, the ranking has remained at 40, placing it at 87 out of 180 nations, three years after the ruling PPP/C took back power.
- Advertisement -
Transparency International stated in a newly released study: “Guyana (40) has significantly risen in the CPI over the last 12 years, however recently the country has stagnated. The oil-rich nation must still place stronger emphasis on building a well-functioning democratic system and implement greater levels of transparency and oversight, especially in the extractive industry.”
Transparency International claims that this industry’s corruption entails the loss of billions of dollars, money that might be utilized to advance development and public services in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Transparency International reported that the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2023 indicates that corruption is global. The association stated that the CPI ranks 180 nations and territories according to how corrupt the public sector is thought to be, with a score ranging from 0 (extremely corrupt) to 100. (very clean). More than two-thirds of the world’s nations receive scores lower than 50, a sign that they suffer from significant corruption. Over the past ten years, the great majority of nations have either fallen or did not improve at all, while the world average remains frozen at 43. Furthermore, 23 nations this year had their lowest results to date.
TI claims that public officials are becoming less accountable due to the worldwide trend of weakened legal systems, which fosters corruption, “Both authoritarian and democratic leaders are undermining justice. This is increasing impunity for corruption, and even encouraging it by eliminating consequences for criminals. Corrupt acts like bribery and abuse of power are also infiltrating many courts and other justice institutions across the globe. Where corruption is the norm, vulnerable people have restricted access to justice while the rich and powerful capture whole justice systems, at the expense of the common good.”
The group added that although it isn’t evident in its rankings, nations with high CPI levels also struggle with impunity. It was mentioned that bribery is a common practice used by businesses from high-scoring nations to transact business overseas in cross-border corruption cases. Others have brought experts into question who facilitate corrupt foreign authorities in any way or sell secrecy. Nevertheless, high-scoring nations frequently neglect to pursue those who engage in international corruption as well as those who assist them.
Regarding the Americas, the study pointed out that insufficient and unaccountable official institutions in Latin America have facilitated the growth of organized crime networks, hence escalating violence and instability. “These are among the main concerns for Latin Americans, along with corruption and the economy. In many countries, law enforcement and corrupt officials collaborate with criminal gangs or accept bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to their illicit activities. In Honduras (23), Guatemala (24), and Peru (36), evidence suggests that organized criminals wield a strong influence over candidates and politicians, financing electoral campaigns or even running for public office themselves,” the report noted.
Transparency International claims that the degradation of natural resources is one way that these entwined criminal and political interests affect society, especially the most marginalized populations. In the region, sextortion and human trafficking target women, girls, and migrants. Typically, this includes state authorities requesting sexual acts in return for services like issuing passports or allowing transit through border controls. Illegal logging, illicit gold mining, slash-and-burn land clearing, and wildlife trafficking are all supported by corrupt networks.
According to the research, there has been an increase in violence in the ancestral lands of indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples in the Amazon due to the drug trade. These territories overlap with crucial areas of high biodiversity. Furthermore, the majority of human rights defender killings in 2021 were reported to have occurred in Latin American nations. Colombia (39) had the largest number of human rights defender deaths (138), followed by Mexico (31) with 42 and Brazil (38) with 27.
Too frequently, since corrupt and criminal networks have infiltrated local administrations and the legal system, killings of environmental and anti-corruption campaigners go unsolved.
In the meanwhile, some governments have taken drastic steps to combat organized crime and gang violence, which have resulted in a concentration of power within the executive branch, less accountability and transparency, and grave risks to fundamental freedoms and human rights.
For example, the executive branch was given unprecedented powers to suspend constitutional safeguards in 2022 when states of exception were declared in nations like El Salvador (33), Ecuador (36), and Honduras (23), even if these declarations were only temporary. They affected people’s freedoms of assembly, information access, transportation, and fundamental arrest processes. These administrations restricted civic space in the name of security, which reduced their capacity to monitor and significantly increased the likelihood of corruption and democratic backsliding.
