On the 2015 election campaign trail, the APNU+AFC coalition party made promises to its support base that there would be convictions for the PPP’s 23 years of corruption in office. But, after spending over four years in office, not a single person from the previous administration fingered in illegal acts is behind bars.
Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr David Hinds, said the government will be hard-pressed to explain, and convincingly at that, why it failed in this regard. During an exclusive interview, the columnist told the Guyana Standard that this will be a major prerequisite for many of its supporters’ votes at the next general elections.
The political scientist said, “This is a sore point with the government’s supporters. They don’t get good marks for it. If they don’t get a conviction by the next elections, its supporters will be turned off.”
Also troubled about the government’s failure is the head of Transparency International Guyana Inc. (TIGI), Dr Troy Thomas. He said that citizens expected that after the elections the government would have done something that would signal the end of impunity for culprits of corruption.
Dr Thomas said, “They promised that it was going to be addressed and, from all indications, this is what the forensic audits were supposed to be about, showing us where the loopholes were, those who were involved, and the magnitude of the corruption that was taking place.”
Considering its lack of convictions as promised, Dr Thomas opined that a proper explanation is in order. The TIGI Head stressed that it is disappointing that persons are getting away without any penalty.
Further to this, he said that the government’s failure also highlights the weaknesses of the institutions which are mandated to fight corruption. In this regard, he noted that there are reports about the Judiciary and even the Guyana Police Force (GPF) being undermined by various elements of corruption.
Dr Thomas stressed nonetheless that the fight against grand scale corruption has to start with bringing an end to impunity.
