–President Ali warns those who stalled EITI report
–Guyana gets extension to submit key document

GUYANA has received an extension to submit its report on the country’s natural resources sector to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), President Dr Irfaan Ali said on Wednesday.

The Head-of-State, during a live broadcast on Wednesday, warned that the individuals responsible for stalling the report will be held accountable.

Dr. Ali disclosed that several circumstances led to the delay of the submission and Guyana, along with several other countries have requested an extension. It was reported that the country had failed to submit its report and was therefore suspended from EITI. But he clarified that the suspension is temporary and will be withdrawn once the report is submitted within the extended deadline, which is now May 2023.

“Notwithstanding the fact that an extension was given by EITI Secretariat to May this year to have that report completed, we still should have been in a position to have that report submitted,” he stressed.

Doing so, he lamented, was stalled by members of the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) who are part of the reporting process.

“For four months,” President Ali bemoaned, “the Multi-Stakeholder Group, MSG, had the ToR [Terms of Reference] for this administrator on pause.

“They did not approve the ToR for the administrator. This begs the question whether there are persons in that group with ulterior motives. Now, after four months, the ToR has been agreed upon with two persons abstaining. This is unacceptable, to put a country’s reporting framework at stake, and to try and damage the government’s credibility is not being a good citizen.”

Even though there were a number of issues which prevented the data-collection process for the report, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the flooding of Guyana’s forests and hinterland, the President posited that the suspension could have been avoided as an independent administrator was hired to complete the report that is now the subject of the suspension.

Dr Ali said the ToR now has full approval, and work can continue to complete the report which, he committed, will be done expeditiously, long in advance of the extended period that was approved by the EITI Secretariat.

A consultant from the United Kingdom (UK) will soon be arriving in Guyana to help complete the report. And President Ali believes that Guyana will maintain its credentials on transparency and accountability.

“Guyana stands committed to working with the EITI Secretariat to fulfil the mandate,” the President maintained, adding that Guyana will strengthen the MSG to ensure the credibility and work in relation to transparency and accountability of the country’s natural resource sector is not affected by ulterior motives or desires.

NO TOLERANCE FOR LAPSES
President Ali further reassured Guyanese that persons who were responsible for the delay will be held accountable.

“One or two persons cannot drag an entire country and its credibility,” he said.

“We will spare no effort in advancing transparency and accountability,” Dr Ali also maintained, going as far as to stress that Guyana is the first country to legislate mandatory jail sentence for non-disclosures associated with the oil and gas sector.

Meanwhile, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, at a press briefing held earlier in the day, told reporters that the data requested for the report was readily available. The delay, however, was a result of the MSG wanting to discuss administrative issues rather than policies.

“Further delay was created because the civil society company on the MSG wanted to discuss the director’s position as a preference over discussing the terms of reference for the independent administrator,” he explained.

In March of last of year, Dr Prem Misir was appointed director of the GY-EITI; however, members of the MSG expressed disapproval of Dr Misir’s appointment and would have delayed the process due to this.

Minister Bharrat explained that the previous director, Dr Rudy Jadoopat, who had been in the position for some years, had exceeded his contract.

But he too believes the work will now move ahead and Guyana will be able to submit the report. In fact, he related that all of the required data has been submitted by the reporting agencies, namely the Guyana Gold Board, Guyana Geology And Mines Commission, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), the Ministry of Finance and other reporting agencies.

The EITI is a multi-stakeholder group, which comprises governments, companies and civil societies who work collectively to maintain high standards in the extractive industries. EITI countries disclose information along the extractive industry value chain, which includes how extraction rights are awarded to how revenues are channelled through government and how the public benefits. More than 50 countries are a part of the EITI.