President Ali reaffirms commitment to transparency in extractive industries

President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has reaffirmed his government’s commitment to promote transparency and accountability in every aspect of governance, particularly in the extractive industries.

Pointing specifically to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) report Wednesday afternoon, Dr Ali expressed disappointment with the delay in its submission, describing it as “unacceptable.”

“In examining the cost and effect of this delay, I found out a number of things, the Government of Guyana in keeping with its mandate and in keeping with its commitment to transparency and accountability, hired an independent administrator to complete the report,” the head of state explained, during a live broadcast.

He said the Terms of Reference (ToRs) were with the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) for four months, despite the government’s efforts to ensure the completion of the report.

“This begs the question whether they are persons in that group with ulterior motive[s]. It is not after four months, that we were able to have ToRs agreed upon with two persons abstaining.

“This is unacceptable, to put a country’s reporting framework at stake, to try to damage the government’s credibility is not being a good citizen,” the president stressed.

He said the ToRs are now approved and assured Guyanese that the work on completing the report would be done expeditiously, long before the extended deadline granted by the EITI Secretariat.

President Ali made it clear that the actions of individuals should not stain the reputation of an entire nation, and he would not tolerate such irresponsibility in the future.

Additionally, he registered commitment to strengthening the MSG and ensuring that the credibility of Guyana in the natural resources sector is not affected by ulterior motives or desires.

He stated that the only desire of his government is to have a strong monitoring framework, as the development of the natural resources sector is dependent on such mechanisms.

Dr Ali also reminded Guyanese that the government had already put in place mandatory jail time for non-disclosure of information in the oil sector, which clearly illustrates its commitment to transparency and accountability.