Following his ousting from the post of Country Coordinator of the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI), Dr Rudy Jadoopat on Saturday accused the PPP/C government of making attempts to control the body in violation of the international standard guiding its operations.
The government did not announce the replacement of Dr Jadoopat, who has been at the helm of the EITI Secretariat since its establishment in 2017, with former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Guyana Dr Prem Misir, but Minister of natural Resources Vickram Bharrat defended the decision as being transparent.
It was the Alliance For Change (AFC) that released a statement yesterday accusing the government of “dismantling all remaining guardrails of good governance and transparency.”
During an interview with Sunday Stabroek yesterday, Jadoopat related that his contract was not renewed by the government after it expired on January 31, 2022. He said he was yet to be given reasons for the decision and questioned the move to fire him since Guyana is currently under the scrutiny of the EITI international body in Norway.
“We are in the middle of the third Guyana EITI report and I am the only person who’s actually involved in that process because the Deputy Coordinator resigned since December [2021]. So it is very troubling to know that report is in process and in the middle of it. Apart from that, Guyana is also in the middle of the first EITI validation process and that is by the international body from Norway and we are in the middle of that also and I am the only person [working on that.
“So at this point to make a change it is absolutely, in my opinion, absurd and nonsensical for a decision to be made like that in the middle of the reporting process and also the validation process,” Jadoopat said during the interview.
EITI is a global standard that promotes transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining sectors. It outlines stringent reporting procedures for disclosing and reconciling company payments and government revenues in implementing countries.
According to GYEITI’s website, back in May 2010 then Prime Minister Sam Hinds started the process of exploring the EITI and two years later an MoU was signed to begin the implementation. Following the change of government in 2015 the Ministry of Natural Resources, then headed by Raphael Trotman, was named the lead agency to continue the initiative.
Jadoopat was appointed as the National Coordinator on February 2, 2017, with the decision-making body – the GYEITI Multi-Stakeholder Group – appointed on February 15, 2017. The Secretariat operates under the supervision of the MSG and is tasked with carrying out the day to day administrative and operational functions of GYEITI.
After completing the sign-up requirements for EITI implementation, Guyana applied for admission to the EITI on the 18th of August 2017.
Jadoopat told this newspaper that his initial contract was for three years and that expired in 2020. It was then renewed for an additional year during which the PPP/C government took office. With the Ministry of Natural Resources now being headed by Bharrat, his contract was renewed for an additional year.
“When the PPP came into power on 1st February 2021, the contract was renewed for one year but they said it is month to month and they took out my gratuity. That one year expired on 31st January 2022, which was last week. I wrote the Permanent Secretary [of the Ministry of Natural Resources Joslyn McKenzie] asking him for guidance on how to move forward. He told me to continue as per norm. That was on Tuesday [February 1] and so on Friday I received an email with an attached letter saying that they have found, hired, contracted the person that got the highest scores [during the interview],” he explained.
Jadoopat was given one month notice with his tenure coming to an end on March 04, 2022.
Transparent process
Meanwhile, Minister Bharrat told this publication that the replacement of Jadoopat was done transparently. He explained that the EITI head’s contract expired over a year ago and that government “kept him back because we want to go through a transparent process of recruiting a head”.
Bharrat said that Jadoopat even applied for the position while still being on the job and that he went through the shortlisting and interviewing process but was unsuccessful.
“So I just wanted to highlight that it was a transparent process, that his contract came to an end almost a year ago and he himself applied, he was interviewed for the position and unfortunately he was not the number one candidate,” he added.
He informed that Dr Prem Misir was the number one candidate so the government is going with him. He is expected to take up the post next month.
Taking a swipe at Jadoopat following the AFC’s statement, Bharrat said that the EITI head was an executive member of the USA chapter of the party and was handpicked for the job back in 2017 as a form of repayment.
“That position, initially in the first place, was never advertised, never went through an open process. He was just selected and placed there in the first place. They did that with EPA Dr Adams and many other positions where they had political appointees in these key positions. We went through the process and Dr Misir is the number one candidate, so we are not replacing him with someone who is not competent and cannot do the job,” Bharrat argued.
The Ministry subsequently said in a statement that Misir has a proven track record of excellent performance, and a wealth of experience and knowledge.
“The Ministry of Natural Resources is confident in Dr. Misir’s ability to ensure that the work of the GYEITI Secretariat maintains a high level of integrity, for the promotion of transparency in Guyana’s extractive sectors, in tandem with the new GYEITI multi-stakeholder group which was appointed in September 2021.
“It is prudent to note that the PPP/C is the only government to have committed to working on a beneficial ownership register and has already commenced the procurement process for consultants to achieve this objective – in line with EITI requirements and civil society calls. These calls fell on deaf ears during the previous administration,” it said.
Apolitical
But when questioned about his political affiliation, Dr Jadoopat maintained that he is apolitical and has never been a card bearer for any political party.
“I am not a member of any political party. I have never been a member of any political party – AFC, PNC PPP, whatever – and I have no intention of ever becoming a part of politics. I am not a party cardholder. I speak my mind as a professional and express my views as a professional to the best of my ability,” he sternly told Stabroek News via phone yesterday.
He further added that as GYEITI head he was expected to be apolitical and he had been successfully fulfilling that mandate. He also stated that he was not offered the job back in 2017; rather, he applied for it after seeing an advertisement and went through the process.
A check by this publication led to a 2016 post on the AFC’s website which advertised the visit of then Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to New York from Jan 15 – 18, 2016. Jadoopat was named as the organiser of one of Nagamootoo’s events.
Violation
Jadoopat told Stabroek News that he believes that his firing stems from his refusal to be censured by the Minister. He added that GYEITI is supposed to be an independent body but since assuming office Bharrat has been requiring every public missive or public engagement to be approved by him.
“There is no one who can point fingers at me and [the] quality of [my] work anywhere in the world and even now and I have been the EITI head for the past five years and there is no record of anything except the Minister is not happy with me being straightforward. I stick to the EITI standards and I cannot violate them as a professional so when the Minister or whoever tells me to do anything which is in violation of the standard I will not do it.
“He has given me instructions to do certain things and I refused because it was in violation of the standard and my job is to uphold the standard and that is what the government of Guyana committed to – uphold the EITI standard, embrace it and implement it – and my job is to make sure that we implement the EITI international standard as it is,” he informed.
He further explained that the Minister had been demanding that alternate members of the Multi-Stakeholder Group not be invited to meetings, which is a violation of its terms of reference. Jadoopat has been refusing to do that which, he claims, resulted in conflicts with the Minister.
Sections 5.6 and 5.7 of the ToR state, “An Alternate Member may attend meetings of the MSG as a de facto observer (with voice but no vote) when their Primary Member is in attendance. (5.7) In the absence of a Primary Member, his/her Alternate Member shall participate in meetings with full rights of voice and vote.”
Jadoopat said that if he followed the instructions of Bharrat, Guyana could risk being suspended from the EITI for violation of the standards.
“He doesn’t read the standard. He doesn’t understand the standard. So if the instruction is in violation of the standard, it is just a waste of time and I will not do it. I am a professional.
“They want to put someone there who would listen to them instead of executing what the standard says and that is my honest view – that Mr Prem Misir has been a known PPP guy for a number of years. He worked for them in many positions. He went overseas and for whatever reason, he came back and they want to give him the job because he will say yes and I am not that kind of person. I am a professional and I have to adhere to the standard because that is what this job entails,” Jadoopat explained.
Grand theft at hand
Meanwhile, in its statement issued yesterday, the AFC said that the Guyanese people would not be fooled by the PPP government and the move to fire Dr Jadoopat “sends an ominous warning that the grand theft is at hand.”
It said that GYEITI grew exponentially from 2017 to 2021 under Jadoopat’s leadership and accused the government of whittling away at the independence and efficacy of the GYEITI by frustrating its work and demoralising the staff and the Multi-Stakeholder Group.
“Now, with the sending off of Dr Jadoopat, it appears that the plan to deny adequate professional scrutiny of the proceeds of the extractive sector, oil revenues, in particular, is complete, as he is being replaced by a PPP ‘yes man’, Dr Prem Misir. This is the crux of the matter, putting ‘yes men’ to replace highly qualified professionals who make the best decisions in the interest of the people of Guyana, and not necessarily the political party in power.
“It is well known that transparency is the biggest obstacle for thieves. It appears that with the draining of the Natural Resource Fund, and the denuding of GYEITI, the PPP is setting the stage for the dismantling of all the possible obstacles which are in place to prevent a few known PPP proven slick hustlers from gorging at the national patrimony,” the AFC said.
The Party added that the government is replacing good governance with corruption.
According to the Ministry, Misir has a Bachelor of Social Science degree (B.S.Sc. Honours) in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Queens University Belfast, a postgraduate research masters (MPhil) from the University of Surrey in Social and Behavioral Sciences, and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Manchester in Medical and Human Sciences. It further noted that he is a fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, and has a PhD with commendation in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Hull, and is also certified by Harvard University in Improving Global Health: Focusing on Quality and Safety.
The EITI website states that 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. Before gaining a scholarship through the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) in his capacity as Branch Chairman of the NAACIE Trade Union in Guyana, he worked at the Guyana Sugar Corporation as a laboratory technician and a clerk in the personnel department at Diamond Estate, E.B.D.
