Some 85 per cent of rural Timorese are unaware of the work of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI), according to NGO Luta Hamutuk oil transparency coordinator Nelson Miranda.
Miranda said the results were based on a three month study undertaken by Luta Hamutuk across 24 villages in 13 districts.
“The dissemination has apparently been ineffective,” he said.
He said EITI had distributed information only in Dili.
“It means that EITI seems to be less concerned about telling rural residents what it is doing,” he said.
He added the EITI Secretariat, when disseminating information to residents must also show the EITI scheme and methods not only just show figures.
“Explanations are required. For example when a company pays taxes, what are those taxes for? How does the government receive taxes and what does it mean for the company,” Miranda suggested.
In response to these concerns, EITI Coordinator in Timor-Leste, Elda Guterres da Silva acknowledged that the information dissemination to community about the EITI’s roles is limited.
Da Silva added in 2015 EITI intends to focus on sharing information about the implementation and duties of EITI in Timor-Leste.
“After making this report, we will disseminate it to the community,” EITI Coordinator da Silva says.
She said although a large number of residents in rural areas don’t yet known what EITI is implementing, on the other hand many youths, civil society groups and students are aware of the funds from oil and gas activities.
“Prior to EITI being established, we did not know how much we had,” da Silva said.
