(Written by Calvin Bernard, Lecturer of the University of Guyana and a director of TIGI)
Transparency requires that relevant information be made easily accessible to stakeholders in a way that it is free from deceit, easily understood and time appropriate. It is a critical prerequisite for realising accountability and is indispensible where a decision-making process requires participation. The Amaila Hydropower Project (AHP) has enormous requirement for both accountability and public participation and therefore transparency.
Despite the National Assembly passing two critical pieces of legislation allowing the AHP to move forward, the project is said to be in jeopardy. Sithe Global (SG), the major private partner on the project, had forewarned that if all the parties in the National Assembly could not agree on the project it would pull out, and it has. SG’s position was a reasonable one. With an investment of that magnitude, any company would want to be sure that a change in government would not endanger the partnership.
There are some people asking why there is opposition to the project when it can bring such great benefits to