– Said EITI reporting mechanism helps to answer this question
Alternate member of the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI) Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) representing Industry Ryan Ramjit sounded a dire warning to Guyana during a community outreach meeting in Bartica on Wednesday June 20, 2018.
“In every interaction you have [with the extractive industries], you have to decide ‘am I at the table or am I the meal?” said Ramjit, Chairman of the Legal and Regulatory Review working Group of the MSG, a body comprising representatives of Government, Industry and Civil Society.
Following the acceptance of Guyana’s EITI candidature application in October 2017, the country now has until April 2019 to produce its first EITI Report, the validation of which will lead to the country becoming fully EITI compliant. This report will detail what extractive companies pay to government, what government receives from these companies and the relevant contextual information.
Ramjit, who is Repsol Exploracion’s Exploration Country Manager in Guyana said that the EITI Report will help the country determine the answer to this question since it will document what extractive companies, including oil companies pay to government and what government received from these companies.
He told the residents of Bartica that as a community, they through the EITI Report, can know how much is being made and can therefore use this information to agitate for resources in the national budget.
Further, he said that countries with EITI membership are perceived to have better investment prospects. “EITI increases your reputation from an investment perspective. It increases your stability from an investment perspective. It says that your country is committed to transparency,” he said.
