Submitted by Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy
NEW YORK: Corruption in the Guyana government is again coming into sharp focus as the Commonwealth Heads of Government conclude their meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. The New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) Tuesday called on developed countries and Multilateral Financial Institutions (MFI) to halt financial aid to the Jagdeo administration in Guyana, charging that that regime is one of the most corrupt in the world.
The CGID statement came in reaction to Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo’s declaration to reporters in Trinidad and Tobago last weekend that the true cost of fighting climate change will top 300 billion dollars. Jagdeo said that leading economists have calculated that “the cost of action and mitigation would be about one percent of the global economy.”
“This is one percent of the GDP of a 30-trillion-dollar global economy,” he estimated. “If resources of that magnitude were available then you’d be able to take serious mitigation action immediately.” Jagdeo’s comments came after the second day of the Commonwealth confab when the attendees adopted a declaration on climate change which called for a legally binding accord at global talks when world leaders meet in Copenhagen.
The Commonwealth Heads also supported a ten billion-dollars a year fund, for the next three years, to help small nations cope with the cost of implementing the necessary changes to cut greenhouse gas emissions. “I think the European Union will meet its share of the 10 billion dollars.. But when we start talking about the larger sums of money… that is the one percent of GDP, we are going to have a serious pushback on the part of the developed world,” Jagdeo said.
But Tuesday, President of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), Rickford Burke labeled Jagdeo “A crook who heads one of the most corrupt governments in the world and whose sordid image damages the integrity of the Caribbean Community.”
Last week United Nations corruption watchdog, Transparence International, in its 2009 report rated Jagdeo’s administration the fifty-forth (54th) most corrupt country in the world.
Contenting that Jagdeo heads an ethnocracy, Burke said that corruption in Guyana is endemic and that his organization will embark on an initiative to expose Jagdeo and block more aid to Guyana until a full and complete accounting of foreign aid to that country has been accomplished and verified by multilateral financial institutions, and until an international investigation of government sponsored torture, murders and extra-judicial killings in the country is effected.”
The Institute’s President observed that “At this juncture in international affairs, amidst a world financial crisis, when human rights and rule of law are preeminent agenda items, Guyana’s President, who is in bed with drug lords and criminals, must not be allowed to go begging “hat in hand” for international funds to embellish his corrupt regime and to fatten private bank accounts with hard earned dollars of tax payers of developed countries. He added it would be irresponsible for the international community to keep pouring money into Guyana without seriously addressing the issue of corruption in the government.
Burke slammed President Jagdeo for “running around the world every week, flying first-class and engaging in lavish dining, while on a personal quest for international recognition and an international occupation – disguised as a campaign for so-called “Carbon Credits” and “Climate Change,” both of which he knows absolutely nothing of and has through his hapless leadership displayed no vision of, while placing the costs of his lavish escapades on the backs of poor Guyanese taxpayers.”
He observed that “To date Mr. Jagdeo has not reported to the nation or Caricom on the success or failure of a single overseas visit since he has been President of the Republic but continues to plunder the countries resources on his personal, corrupt excursions.”
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