By Stabroek News

Copyright stabroeknews

Non-governmental organisation, Policy Forum Guyana (PFG), says it is concerned over government’s relentless efforts to sideline the NGO and strip it of the responsibility of selecting an independent convenor to sit on the Multi-Stakeholder Committee (MSG) of the local arm of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

In a release yesterday, PFG stated that on September 30, the Ministry of Natural Resources & the Environment (MoNRE) renewed its efforts to get rid of PFG by advertising for a new convenor of the civic members of GYEITI.

Giving some background to the issue, PFG related that in contravention of the international rules of EITI, Minister of Natural Resources & the Environment, Vickram Bharrat had attempted earlier this year to replace the independent convenor of the civic component of the Multi-Stakeholder Committee (MSG) of the local affiliate – GYEITI – with a nominee from the private business sector. However, after months of secrecy the Ministry’s efforts to have the Private Sector Commission (PSC) select the MSG civic convenor were finally exposed and quashed following intervention by the International Secretariat of the EITI in Norway.