GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Feb 13, CMC -President Irfaan Ali Thursday dismissed as “politically biased” the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report released by Transparency International earlier this week.
Based on the 2024 report, Barbados led the Caribbean Community (CARICCOM) countries from among the 180 countries surveyed worldwide, with Guyana being ranked 92nd .
Under the heading “Shrinking civic space and restricted access to information” Transparency International notes that in Guyana “state capture by economic and political elites fosters misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crime.
“Although the country has created anti-corruption institutions and laws, transparency and law enforcement are very low and attacks on dissenting voices, activists and journalists increasingly common,” the report noted.
But speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the opening of the Annual Officers Conference of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), President Ali questioned the report and the sources of its information.
“There is a serious political bias and that is why many countries in the globe are saying that these perceptions indicators, that we have to bring accountability to these indicators, because when they come here, if you are interviewing someone with a bias, you are interviewing someone with political motives or a political agenda, what do you expect to get.
“If you are doing a fair independent evaluation, then you go interview everyone and then the Government responds or whoever responds. If that mechanism is not in place, then there is no credibility to what you do”, President Ali said.
President Ali said he intends to address the issue in more detail at a later date.
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