–one year later than initial deadline due to COVID-related, other technicalities

THE deadline for Guyana’s second Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report has been postponed to March 2021 due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the delayed completion of Guyana’s electoral process.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Sunday, EITI’s National Coordinator Dr. Rudy Jadoopat, in explaining the challenges said that to assist Guyana in the compilation of its second report, previously scheduled for completion by December 2020, it is necessary to hire an independent administrator.

Funding in the sum of $US120,000 has already been provided by the government through a Department of Energy–cum World Bank loan to hire someone capable of doing the job, but while that person has been identified, the contract to hire them cannot be signed by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), because the proposed fee is above G$15M.

As Dr. Jadoopat was at pains to explain, the NPTAB only has authority to sign contracts of up to G$15M, hence permission to sign for above this amount must come from Parliament. However, due to the interim status of the government, and the ongoing electoral process, this cannot be facilitated.

This being the case, the EITI Secretariat, knowing that the pandemic poses many challenges to the completion of annual reports by countries, has extended the deadline for the submission of said report to March 2021.

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Dr. Jadoopat believes that by then Guyana will be more than ready to meet this new timeline, providing that the COVID-19 and electoral situations improve.

The Guyana arm of the EITI (GYEITI) is a government-led initiative in partnership with the private sector, civil society and the extractive industry. It is a global standard for the good governance of oil, gas and mineral resources.

Guyana’s first EITI report, a document of approximately 6,000 pages, was completed in April 2019, and not only details where Guyana stands regarding transparency in the extractive industries, but also highlights those areas that can be improved.

To implement the recommendations outlined in the report, the GYEITI’s Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) has drafted an Action Plan, which separates its objectives, based on a timeframe set for their completion.

While some governments tend to shy away from the publicity that comes with full transparency in their extractive sectors, the Government of Guyana believes that the positives outweigh the negatives, and is forging ahead to meet the requirements of the EITI.

While becoming a signatory of the EITI is voluntary, once implementation begins, the country is required to achieve compliance with the EITI requirements, with the participation of all companies and government agencies making or receiving payments.