A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Friday demanded a full independent explanation from the Parliament Office over the failure to properly notify Opposition Members of Parliament (MP) about a meeting with a visiting Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Validation Team, arguing that an apology from the Clerk of the National Assembly does not adequately address concerns surrounding transparency and parliamentary accountability.
“This was not an ordinary meeting. EITI Validation is an international assessment of Guyana’s transparency, accountability, stakeholder engagement, and governance of its oil, gas, mining and other extractive sectors. In a country now defined by vast petroleum wealth, every Guyanese has a right to know whether national institutions are allowing independent voices to be heard,” the partnership stated.
The controversy stems from a June 11 engagement between Opposition MPs and the EITI Validation Team, which is conducting an international assessment of Guyana’s management of its oil, gas and mining sectors. According to reports, the Guyana EITI Secretariat requested that all Members of Parliament be invited to meet with the visiting assessors. While Government MPs reportedly received timely notification, Opposition MPs said they were informed only hours before the meeting or learned of it through unofficial channels.
The matter is particularly significant given the composition of the 13th Parliament. Of the 65 seats in the National Assembly, 29 are held by Opposition parties, including 16 seats held by the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, 12 seats held by APNU, and one seat held by the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM). APNU contends that all elected representatives should have been afforded a fair opportunity to engage with the international validation mission.
Following public criticism, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs reportedly acknowledged that Opposition MPs were not properly notified and apologised, attributing the lapse to an administrative error. APNU, however, maintains that the circumstances warrant a fuller explanation, including documentary evidence showing how the correspondence was handled and why Opposition parliamentarians were not informed in a timely manner.
The issue carries added significance because stakeholder participation is a central component of the EITI validation process, which assesses transparency, accountability and public oversight in countries with extractive industries. Guyana’s performance under the initiative has previously attracted international scrutiny.
In 2022, Guyana received an overall validation score of 52 points, one of the lower ratings among EITI implementing countries at the time, with assessors identifying deficiencies in stakeholder engagement, transparency mechanisms and oversight arrangements that required corrective action before the country’s next validation.
The current validation comes at a critical time for Guyana, which has transformed into one of the world’s fastest-growing oil-producing nations since first oil production began in 2019. The international EITI Board has already raised concerns about aspects of Guyana’s implementation process, including governance issues affecting the country’s Multi-Stakeholder Group—the body responsible for overseeing EITI implementation and ensuring participation by government, industry and civil society representatives.
Against that backdrop, APNU argues that any failure to ensure the participation of elected Opposition representatives in meetings with international assessors raises legitimate questions about the environment in which transparency and accountability are being evaluated.
