Monrovia – The Multi-stakeholders Steering Group (MSG) of the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI) has been told by the International Secretariat to reaffirm Liberia’s suspension from the extractive industry body.
In September 2018, the EITI Board suspended Liberia over its failure to publish the EITI report for the fiscal period of June 2016 up to the July 1, 2018 deadline.
The EITI said at the time that it came to the decision following a request by the Liberian Government to extend the reporting deadline set by the EITI Standard which the Board found that the request did not meet the criteria for granting an extension.
The EITI board said then that it would lift the suspension once Liberia’s outstanding EITI Report is endorsed by the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) and published within six months of the deadline (by 31st December 2018), in accordance with the Standard, the EITI Board. However, in a communication from the Secretariat to members of the MSG members, dated Friday, May 24, 2019, signed by Country Manager Murjanatu I. Gamawa, stakeholders were told the following:
“As you may be aware, the International Secretariat has conducted an assessment of Liberia’s adherence to requirement 1.1 to 1.5 in accordance with requirement 8.6 of the EITI standard.
The assessment has been concluded and the International Secretariat recommends that the Implementation Committee recommends to the Board that Liberia’s temporary suspension is reaffirmed effective due to the significant breaches related to multi-stakeholder group (MSG) oversight (Requirement 1).
The assessment reflects a profound crisis of EITI implementation in Liberia. The process has become dysfunctional and its legitimacy is questionable. The International Secretariat Does not consider a second Validation efficient or appropriate until the fundamental weaknesses in the governance of the process are addressed. The International Secretariat recommends that the Board reviews progress in addressing the corrective actions relating to timely reporting and requirement 1 on 31 December 2019. If the Board will consider whether to lift the suspension and Liberia’s second Validation will commence Immediately. Failure to demonstrate considerable progress in addressing the corrective actions will lead to delisting. Please do not hesitate to contact us, should you have any clarifications.
Liberia was one of the first countries to implement the EITI and the progress it showed over the years was instrumental in the development of the EITI Standard in 2013. In 2016, Liberia demonstrated that it was making meaningful progress in implementing the EITI Standard in one of the first EITI Validations of its kind in Africa.
Validation is the EITI’s quality-assurance mechanism. Liberia is currently scheduled to undergo its second Validation on 24 November 2018.
Mr. Gabriel Nyekan, head of the Secretariat, has previously laid the blame on his predecessors in the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf-led government for failing to report in the stipulated period while confirming the readiness of the report even though a request for an extension was declined.
The LEITI debacle was one of the first dark spot for the Weah-led government. In March 2018, the President sparked a controversy when he named Nyenkan as head of the Secretariat, drawing rebuke from international stakeholders, with the global anti-graft institution, Global Witness (GW) calling for an immediate withdrawal of the nominee.
Nyenkan’s replacement of Konah Karmo who was appointed by the Multi-Stakeholders Steering Group (MSG) of LEITI in 2014, following a competitive recruitment process in which several other individuals and institutions participated, was later following by Mr. Nyenkan’s storming of the offices of the LEITI secretariat with armed Police officers in tow and demanded that its head Karmo leave the building. Karmo is reported to have complied with Nyekan’s orders given at virtual gunpoint.
Civil society organizations slammed Nyenkan and condemned his actions.
Global Witness termed the illegal removal of LEITI Head Secretariat, Mr. Karmo— as clear violation of the act that created the anti-graft entity.
Said GW at the time: “Global Witness strongly condemns the illegal removal of Mr. Karmo, Head of Secretariat of the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). The firing of Mr. Karmo by President George Weah, who has replaced him with Gabriel Nyenkan, violates Liberian law and severely undermines the independence of Liberia’s critical anti-corruption agency”.