EITI: AFC concern about Misir’s performance and Guyana’s ability to meet May deadline

The new head of Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GUYEITI) Dr. Prem Misir does not have the competence or qualifications to lead the organisation. So says the Alliance For Change (AFC), reminding the party had already sounded the alarm, will continue to raise its voice whenever and wherever the ugly scourge of corruption raises its head, the

The AFC, in a release said, the party will call out corruption of any kind because it is anathema to our democracy.

The party once again raised concerns about Misir’s membership and loyalty to the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP), pointing out that such relationship would interfere with his judgment and administration of the operations of EITI.

Guyana is still awaiting the completion and publication of the 2020 and 2021 GYEITI reports.  However, as a card-carrying member of the PPP, and despite being less qualified than his predecessor, Misir was awarded a lucrative employment contract befitting his membership as a PPP elite, the AFC said.

Making a comparison not only with qualification, as the AFC stated before, and noted Dr. Jadupat was more qualified.

Misir is the holder of a Ph.D (University of Hull), MPH (University of Manchester), M.Phil (University of Surrey), BSc (Honours) (Queen’s University of Belfast (with Postdoctoral work in Public Health at Columbia University).

Jadoopat has a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Degree in Economics, specialising in International Economic Relations, from Moscow State University, and a Master of Science (M.Sc.) Degree in Economics, from the University of Guyana.

According to the AFC, when Jadoopat occupied the position, he earned an annual remuneration of $639,229. “On the other hand, the less qualified Dr Misir gets $840,000 plus a monthly residential allowance of $387,000, among other benefits.” What is the real reason for this augmented salary structure for someone who, to date, has not produced the agency’s report and failed to maintain the transparency and high standards of EITI the party questioned.

 “On top of the blatantly corrupt and outlandish contract, two other hired contractors are being paid huge sums to fast-track the completion of the reports to meet the new deadline. A few weeks ago, the President of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, used his Facebook page to blame others for the delay in an attempt to muddy the waters to cover the agency’s incompetence.”

The party said it is very evident the bloated salary package is yet another case of PPP corruption when it remunerates DOUBLY the unqualified Misir for his continued incompetence simply because he is a card-carrying member, friend and family of those feeding at the trough. “This is how the PPP regime spends our hard-earned monies.”

The party has previously pointed out that the Jadoopat-led Secretariat did more work than Misir-led Secretariat. It was pointed out the Jadoopat-led Secretariat assisted the Multi-Stakeholder Group and the Independent Administrator in the successful setting up of the GYEITI in 2017, and completion of three Reports, namely, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Guyana was suspended from the EITI under the Misir-led Secretariat. The country has been granted an extension up to this month to submit its report.