Opposition says EITI meeting notice was withheld

Jun 12, 2026 News

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…as Clerk ‘can’t recall’ invitation received by Parliament

By Khadidja Ba

(Kaieteur News) – The parliamentary opposition has accused the government of deliberately withholding an official invitation to meet with the visiting Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Validation Team, after Opposition MPs were reportedly notified of the engagement only hours before it was scheduled to begin.

Adding to the controversy, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs told Kaieteur News he could not recall receiving the invitation, despite records showing that the correspondence was delivered to Parliament and signed for nearly a week earlier.

“I have to check. I can’t remember seeing it,” Isaacs said when contacted by this newspaper.

The document in question, an official letter dated June 5, 2026, was addressed directly to Isaacs from Rajdai Jagarnauth, National Coordinator (a.g.) of the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI).

The letter, bearing the subject line “INVITATION TO MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY: ENGAGEMENT WITH THE EITI VALIDATION TEAM,” explicitly noted that the international organization is currently undertaking Guyana’s second EITI Validation from June 8–12, 2026. The EITI Secretariat requested the Clerk’s assistance in extending the invitation to all Members of Parliament for scheduled meetings at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.

The schedule distinctly carved out two separate slots:

* Opposition Members of Parliament: Thursday, June 11, 2026, at 16:30hrs.

* Government Members of Parliament: Friday, June 12, 2026, at 11:00hrs.

Despite the letter being marked “Received by” and signed for at the Parliament Office on June 5, 2026, with a handwritten note reading “E-mail address for clerk”, the opposition benches say they were left completely in the dark until the eleventh hour.

“Modus Operandi of the Government”

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News on Thursday immediately after the last-minute meeting with the EITI team, Opposition Chief Whip Tabitha Sarabo-Halley expressed deep frustration but little surprise at the development. “It is what we have come to expect given the modus operandi of the government…” Sarabo-Halley revealed. “A colleague of mine informed me that they received a message stating that there was a meeting at 4:30 this afternoon and whether or not I would be able to make it. Upon further investigation, it was noted that the invitation was actually sent out since June 5th, and at the last hour, the 11th hour, we are now made aware of it.”

The Chief Whip directly accused the administration of trying to censor or limit the perspectives being shared with the international oversight body. “I believe that the government is trying its utmost best to limit who engages the EITI validation team because they are concerned of what may come out once the opposition and other independent persons may have to say about what is actually happening in Guyana as it relates to democracy, the lack of transparency, lack of accountability across the country in every sector,” Sarabo-Halley said.

She further questioned the fundamental independence of the Parliament Office itself. “While I am upset by the fact that we were given such short notice, it’s something that I have come accustomed to based on how the government operates. I believe that the government has to recognize that if it wants to say that it’s a democratic government and that we are a democratic country, certain things should be basic. The opposition parliamentarians, the parties that make up the opposition, are part of the structure of this country and should be afforded all that comes with that. If an invitation is sent to Parliament, if Parliament is as independent as it should be, then nothing should bar Parliament from sending those invitations to all members of Parliament. The fact that that letter never got to the opposition MPs also speaks to whether or not Parliament in it of itself is as independent as it should be, which is another issue that we have to contend with.”

“Deliberate Frustration”

Echoing her colleague’s sentiments, Forward Guyana Movement leader Amanza Walton strongly rejected any narrative that may arise which blamed the situation on a simple administrative oversight. “The parliamentary opposition, as my colleague indicated, has not up to now been officially informed of this meeting,” Walton stated. “And it is only because a public-spirited person, I will say, indicated to me about two hours prior to the time scheduled for the meeting that this meeting was supposed to have happened, that I made my way up to the center having spoken with the chief whip of the opposition.”

Walton described the situation as “pathetic” for a government that frequently labels itself a champion of democratic norms. “So disappointed? No. Saddened, yes, because I believe that it is pathetic that in this day and age, and particularly because you have a government that holds itself out as the bastion of democracy, and they like to talk about the return of democracy and the thwarting of democracy. This is the thwarting of democracy in effect, because it is… it is beyond comprehension that you would exhibit this level of pettiness as it relates to an initiative as important as the EITI. But we’ve come to expect this behavior from them. Parliament has not functioned.”

Anticipating the government’s defense, the MP added: “I want to be clear that I reject beforehand any suggestion by the government that this was administrative. I am accusing them of deliberately frustrating efforts of the validation mission from the EITI to meet with members of the Opposition and so I’m sure they may want to be penalizing some poor innocent public servant to save face. But we want them to be aware that we know…we know that this happened at the highest levels of government.”

Despite the deliberate hurdles, Walton noted that the opposition moved swiftly to ensure Guyana’s realities were heard. “Because we are a responsive opposition, we left what we were doing and the Chief and I came up and we had, I would say, a substantive and fulsome meeting with the EITI.” Kaieteur News noted the absence of opposition party APNU at the meeting.

EITI Team Alerted

When asked by Kaieteur News whether the international validation team was made aware of the suppression of the notice, Chief Whip Sarabo-Halley confirmed that the oversight body was fully briefed on the situation.

“Yes, we were very clear on that,” Sarabo-Halley told this publication. “We informed them of when we received the informal notification of this meeting. And we have actually agreed that we will meet with them again with the bigger team with more Opposition members of Parliament will be present…and so we will be able to have further discussions with them as to what is actually going on in Guyana in the extractive industry.”

According to the GY EITI’s website, “On 28 April 2022, Guyana was found to have achieved a fairly low overall score (52 points) in implementing the 2019 EITI Standard. The Validation Report outlines the full assessment of Guyana’s Validation by requirement. It is based on extensive stakeholder consultations and a review of three templates that reflect the components of EITI Validation, namely “Outcomes and impact”, “Stakeholder engagement” and “Transparency”. The Board decision, including corrective actions needed before Guyana’s next Validation, is published in the decisions register.

Validation is the EITI’s quality assurance mechanism to assess implementing countries on their ability to meet the provisions of the EITI Standard.”

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• EITI meeting, opposition, Sherlock Isaacs, Validation Team

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