Guyana: Oil Corruption

I wrote a blog post about Guyana earlier this year and it had to do with territory disputes between Guyana and Venezuela. Though that is an ongoing issue, Guyana recently got an article written up about the country in the BBC:

South America's second poorest nation is bracing for an oil boom that could catapult it to the top of the continent's rich list - and beyond. But can Guyana avoid the so-called oil curse and ensure that its newfound riches benefit all Guyanese?

In Guyana, "corruption is rampant," says Troy Thomas, the head of the local chapter of global anti-corruption NGO Transparency International. He says he is "very worried" about the oil curse. A political crisis in recent months has been seen by some as an early sign of the curse's effects. 

Corruption. Corruption. Corruption.



Back in 2016 at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, I got a chance to attend a panel discussion where one of the panelists was Sarah Chayes. Here are the notes that I took:

Panama papers revelation reflects quality of the corrupt government structure. What the papers suggest are that these states are not weak, but sophisticated criminal states. Family members own construction companies. The construction done doesn't benefit the public. Instead the construction projects are used to funnel cash. What is interesting is that countries such as the US, Finland and Sweden who rank high in controlling corruption is where this money eventually ends up in and therefore provide support to the corrupt states. 

She was told in Afghanistan that the US needed to control corruption to gain control of what was happening. Corruption allows for personal dignity to get violated. And it isn't just money bribery that occurs. There is also sexual exploitation. For example, she knows of a Nigerian judge who took advantage of a woman. What does the family do? Does the brother turn to terrorists such as Boko Haram for revenge? The terrorist will tell the brother that this judge cannot be good. They make a moral argument. This results in violent religious reaction to extensive corruption.

If corruption in Guyana is not stopped, you can bet that similar situations as described by Chayes back in 2016 will occur. Certain individuals will become extremely wealthy. People will notice this and might attempt to revolt. Of course, the government and police may attempt to counteract this via becoming a totalitarian nation.

Considering that oil starts to flow starting in 2020, it isn't like Guyana has much time to clean things up.