Minister Bharrat calls out power struggle between GYEITI Secretariat and first MSG

Sep 27, 2021 News

Kaieteur News- Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat revealed that when he assumed office, he noticed that there was a misunderstanding of the role of and relationship between the Secretariat and the first multi stakeholder group (MSG) of the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI).
He made the comments during a recent ceremony which was held to commemorate the launch of the second GYEITI MSG at the Ministry’s Main Street annex. The MSG is tasked with implementing the EITI transparency standards.
“The multi-stakeholder group is the decision-making body for the GYEITI… and the GYEITI Secretariat is the executing agency or body or arm, and I want to make that clear…” Bharrat said.
“When I took over as Minister of Natural Resources, I sensed that there was some kind of confusion previously. There was some kind of misunderstanding as to how the role should be. That is based on my personal assessment. This would have created some kind of animosity in the past between the Secretariat and the MSG.”

Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat addresses National Coordinator for GYEITI Secretariat, Dr. Rudy Jadoopat

He said that the National Coordinator of the GYEITI Secretariat, Dr. Rudy Jadoopat and others, are supposed to execute the decisions of the MSG and not the other way around. Bharrat also asked that there be a better relationship between the MSG and the Secretariat.
“And I think the Secretariat, Mr. Jadoopat and staff, you would have to lead from the front on this here, because most, or all of the members of the MSG, they are basically volunteering their time, their service; they’re professionals. But you’re here on a full time basis, so we’ll expect that you lead from the front in building a good working relationship.”
Bharrat said fractured relationships are often caused by a failure to communicate, whether there is a lack of communication, too much, or the wrong communication.
“And I want to say too, that every single member of the MSG and the Secretariat is important to this process,” Bharrat added. “There is no one that is less important than the other one, whether you’re from civil society, industry or government. We are all in this together as a team.”
The Minister thanked the new members of the MSG for their patriotism and commitment to moving Guyana forward on matters of transparency and accountability.
“That is something that all of us must be interested in, to ensure that our extractive industries are managed in an accountable, efficient, transparent manner.”
He noted that the new MSG includes members of the old one, and that he is thankful for them, because they will bring some institutional knowledge and experience which they gleaned over the life of the first MSG.
The new MSG is responsible for seeing that Guyana’s third EITI report is completed and submitted before the year is out.
The Ministry of Natural Resources is currently seeking the services of an independent administrator for the preparation of this report.