MSG-Civic vote to abstain on the TOR issue was consistent with the position communicated to the Minister

DEAREDITOR, MSG meeting of February www.eiti.org

ThefollowingisanOpen 22nd2023.

NC. Details of such defects

• InAugust 2022 at MSG are documented elsewhere

Letter to the President of The Multi-Stakeholder Statutory Meeting a request and noted in the Minutes of Guyana sent electronically Group (MSG) is comprised was received from the MSG meetings which are andasprintedletter ofthreeactors:CivilSociety, National Coordinator (NC) partofthepublicrecord. We are writing this Open Industry (extractive industry for its retro-active approval • Later in August it was Letter on behalf of the Civic c o m p a n i e s ) a n d of Terms of Reference discovered that the NC had component of the Multi- Government, with each (TOR) for the 4th Annual disappeared from office Stakeholder Groupin order sector selecting its own ReportwhichtheNChimself without informing or to set the record straight members.The MSG, by its had produced. The MSG seeking permission from the concerning Guyana’s own decision, operates on a unanimously declined to MSG which eventually s u s p e n s i o n f r o m voluntary basis.The MSG approve this request on the became a four months theExtractive Industries always seeks consensus in grounds that the content of absencefromoffice. Transparency Initiative decision-making and has the TOR was seriously • During the months of (EITI). resortedtoavoteonlyontwo defective and that its the NC’s absence the MSG Judging from the occasionsinsevenyears. submission to the Ministry worked assiduously with the opinions attributed to you in For the benefit of by the NC without the Permanent Secretary to the press concerning yourself and for the larger benefit of an MSG review, address both the crisis in the developments in the civic community we input and approval was a Secretariat and the need to GYEITI), it seems that you represent on the GYEITI- serious violation of the EITI produce a valid TOR are badly advised both about MSG, we outline in Standard.TheStandardvests Consequently, in November the Extractive Industries summary below the more all authority pertaining to two senior civil servants Transparency Initiative salient factors surrounding both content and process of were seconded to the NS (EITI) rules and procedures the current situation.We also theTORintheMSG. from the MNR and a workfor producing Terms of encourage anyone wishing • It should be noted that plan for production of the Reference (TOR) for the to understand the EITI in the issue of the Annual TOR for the Report was set EITI Report and also about greater detail to consult the Report was only the latest inmotion. what prompted our vote to EITI Standard 2019 to be example of the allegedly •Thearrangementbythe abstain on the TOR at the found on the EITI website deficient performance of the (Continued on page 6)