Despite difficulties brought on by the Covid 19 outbreak and the internal governance crises of 2018, Liberia has passed the International EITI Board’s validation process. Since January 2022, Liberia has been undergoing validation of its implementation of the New 2019 EITI Standard by the International EITI Secretariat. Liberia’s status was last verified in August 2016. Implementing nations’ capacity to satisfy the standards of the EITI Standard is evaluated through Validation, the EITI’s quality assurance process.
The EITI Board found that Liberia had implemented the EITI with a MODERATE overall score (75.5 percent) despite difficulties with its internal administration of the EITI and the Covid 19 epidemic in a statement released on Friday, June 17, 2022. The EITI’s Multi-stakeholder platform has been used by Liberia to satisfy public demand for openness and accountability in the mining, oil and gas, agriculture, and forestry sectors.
The Board highlighted that Liberia has long employed outreach and dissemination as a key component of its EITI implementation and referred to LEITI as the country’s torch bearer. Each of the 15 counties in the nation has a designated focal point for EITI implementation, which has offered a formal framework for outreach and information sharing at the regional level, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I commend Liberia EITI for recovering from its governance crisis and resuming its efforts to use the EITI as a platform to bring about reform and debate in the extractive sector,” said Helen Clark, EITI Board Chair. “There are opportunities to build on these efforts by improving transparency around the award of extractive rights, the beneficial ownership of companies, contracts, and the operations of the national oil company.”
The Validation result indicates that Liberia has quickly moved from being suspended in 2018 to one of the world’s most actively proactive EITI implementing countries. The most recent Validation is the third since the nation codified the EITI process in 2007 and followed laws in 2009.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global standard that encourages income transparency in the extractive industries in resource-rich nations, includes the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (LEITI). It works to ensure openness regarding payments made to and revenues collected by the Government from businesses in the relevant industries. Liberia joined the EITI in 2007, and the LEITI autonomous body was established by legislation in 2009. The LEITI has released 12 EITI reports thus far. A board comprised of representatives from the public, private, and civil society oversees the LEITI. International partners also participate on the LEITI board as observers.
