Absent National Coordinator stymied work of Guyana EITI

- Civil society reps set record straight on Guyana’s suspension, missed deadline

independent administrator was hired to work on the report but the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the consultant was held up by the Multi-Stakeholder

Amid the furor over Guyana being suspended from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) over its failure to submit its 2020 r e p o r t , t h e t w o representatives from the Civic component of the Multi-StakeholderGroupon Sunday sough to set the record straight concerning the matter as government officials including President IrfaanAli, had blamed them forthis.

Among the issues raised by the pair were the disappearance from Office of the National Coordinator, Dr Prem Misir and him asking the MultiStakeholderGrouptorubber stamp a request for a retroactive approval of Terms of Reference (TOR) for the 4th Annual Report whichhehadproduced.

T h e M S G h a d unanimously declined to approve this request on the grounds that “the content of the TOR was seriously defective and that its submission to the Ministry by the NC without the benefit of an MSG review, input and approval was a seriousviolationoftheEITI Standard.TheStandardvests all authority pertaining to both content and process of the TOR in the MSG,” the t w o c i v i l s o c i e t y representatives, Vanda R a d z i k a n d M i k e McCormackdetailedintheir letter Questions were raised about Misir’s fitness for the post when he was appointed last year and the allegations by the MSG would add further pressure on government to review its decision. Last week it was disclosed that Guyana was suspended from the global body and President Ali vowed to expose and hold responsibleforthecountry’s temporary suspension from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

A subsequent press release from the Ministry of Natural Resources sought to blame Radzik and McCormack. The Head of State had said his government is committed to upholding the tenets of t r a n s p a r e n c y a n d accountability, adding that no effort will be spared to bringthecountryinlinewith itsreportingrequirements.

Guyana was reportedly suspended after it failed to submitareportdocumenting revenues received by the state from the extractive sector for the period 2020. EITI on its website said that Guyanaisnoteligibleforan extension of the reporting deadline for fiscal year January 2020-December 2020. It said too that the deadline for the publication of the outstanding report remainsDecember31,2022.

Ali in his address stated that the country has an extension for submission in May 2023 from the EITI Secretariat. He pledged that thiswouldbemet.TheHead of State also shared his understanding of the root causeforthesuspension.Ali said, “I have made it clear that it is unacceptable to have a delay in the submission of the report. Notwithstanding, the fact that an extension was given by the EITI secretariat for it tobecompletedbyMaythis year, we still should have beeninapositiontohavethe reportsubmitted.”

Aside from the fact that all reporting countries were given an extension in 2019 as a result of the pandemic, and in Guyana’s case, extensive floods that obstructed data collection, Ali said he will not tolerate delays in the presentation and submission of the nation’sreport.

F u r t h e r t o t h i s understandingofthereasons for delay and subsequent suspension, Ali said an

Group (MSG) which consists of members of civil society, government representatives,andindustry players. He said the MSG’s approval was held up for four months. The President said,“Thisbegsthequestion whether there are persons in that group with ulterior motives. It was only after four months that we were able to have the Terms of

Reference agreed upon with two persons abstaining. It is unacceptable to put a country’s reporting frameworkatstake,totryto damage the government’s credibility is not being a goodcitizen.”

Be that as it may, he added, “I am pleased to say this has been sorted and the work on completing the report will be done expeditiously, long in advance of the extended periodthatwasapprovedby theEITISecretariat.Alisaid theirresponsibility

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