The talk – and sneers! – about “corruption” can’t be escaped in Guyana nowadays. But it’s always been there, yes?? When the planters gave contracts only to white merchants for their goods, wasn’t that corruption?? So, dear reader, you say the other folks didn’t have merchants in the beginning? Well, how did THAT situation come about??! One thing about this thing called “capitalism” is, it comes with its own morality; with money as its god and making money as the reason for man’s existence. By any means necessary.
Even Karl Marx, who railed against its monstrous tentacles, admitted it was the most efficient system even invented to produce more and more for less and less!! So, the item you’re selling is defective…do you tell this to the buyer? Hell no!! Caveat emptor’s the rule – buyer, beware!! But what about things BEFORE capitalism?? Were folks a bunch of angels flitting around with halos hovering over their heads? Hell no!! Using people as serfs and slaves to work their land isn’t corruption – plus having the seignorial “right” to bed their wives and daughters??
Kant, in disgust, had to conceded that we’re all created “out of this crooked timber”. It’s a good analogy – from within, none of us is “straight” – and we all have a price. The sooner we concede this, the sooner we’ll be able to deal with corruption. We’ll have to accept that any politician who denies there’s corruption at all levels of Government is either a fool or a vagabond. With all the slings against Jagdeo, he admitted there’s corruption in the Government! He just thinks it’s not as prevalent as the Opposition and some folks think it is.
So, what’d we do?? As Civil Society, we gotta get our act together and investigate claims of corruption, so that we have “smoking gun” evidence to take the perpetrators to court!! It can be done!! Guyana’s a small place, and we Guyanese just loooove to talk. Shouldn’t be too difficult to pin down some of the rumours, should it?? Problem is, sometimes we like to talk too much sh*t!!! And we don’t put our money where our mouths are!!
So, what should the leaders in Government do?? Well, we can take a few leaves from Lee Kwan Yew’s book (literally!!) and make our Civil Servants less susceptible to bribes from the business class by educating and paying them to such a level that they’d be insulted when a bribe’s offered!! And trust this Eyewitness: not many Government officials ASK for bribes; the money’s passed under the table before the official even opens his mouth!!
And secondly, if officials’ assets exceed their income flow, let THEM have to show the courts where they got the money!!
…in politics
But folks aren’t corrupt only in business, are they?? In fact, there’s a lot of hypocrisy about corruption by only focusing from that angle. What about corruption in rigging elections from 1968 to 1985?? To accomplish that feat, didn’t the PNC corrupt thousands and generations of Guyanese to steal the votes of their fellow citizens?? Didn’t this corruption become a way of life?? Does anyone think the corruption could be compartmentalised so it doesn’t spill over into every other aspect of life??
Wasn’t it corruption when all those Policemen seized “banned” goods and only returned them for “services” from women?? What about the bribes for every service by the Public Service (!!), like getting birth certificates!??! Isn’t that when petty corruption joined with corruption at the top, so that corruption became power, and absolute corruption became absolute power??
We all had to become complicit, since we knew the dictator was corrupt; the dictator knew he was corrupt, but we stayed quiet – lest we be assassinated like poor Walter.
…and us
Since corruption’s endemic to the human condition, the best we can do is to keep it from overwhelming us. If those in charge wanna protect their own interest, they’ll ensure there’s some milk left for the calf!!