MONROVIA, Montserrado – Nearly two weeks after the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative announced Liberia’s suspension from its membership, President George Weah has requested nominations from stakeholder institutions to constitute the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group of the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives.

In a statement issued by the Executive Mansion on Monday, Weah requested institutions, including the Liberia Gold and Diamond Association, the National Civil Society Network of Liberia, the Liberia Labor Congress, Publish What You Pay, and the Press Union of Liberia, to nominate a member each to serve on the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group as civil society representatives.

“In an effort to fully constitute the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (LEITI) Multi-Stakeholder Steering Group (MSG), the president, Dr. George Manneh Weah has requested the following institutions to nominate a representative in the formation of the MSG,” the statement read.

The president is also requesting private sector representatives each from Golden Veroleum, Western Cluster, Arcelor Mittal, the Liberia Timber Association, and Firestone.

According to the release, development partners such as the UNDP, the German development agency known as GIZ, the African Development Bank, the European Union, the World Bank, and the United States Embassy would serve as observers to the MSG.

On September 6, EITI announced that as of September 4, Liberia’s membership with the global standard was suspended due to the country’s failure to publish its EITI report for the fiscal period ending June 2016 on July 1, this year. The board also rejected a request from the government to extend the reporting deadline.

The organization’s board encouraged the government to consult the relevant stakeholders and ensure that they were adequately represented in LEITI’s multi-stakeholders group, in accordance with the international standard. The board also denied Liberia’s request for an extension because a new steering group had not been constituted since the tenure of the previous MSG ended in last October.

The EITI board called on the government to reconstitute the MSG. It noted that it would only lift the suspension if the required report was endorsed by the MSG and published within six months of the deadline on December 31 this year.

President George Weah had earlier removed the head of the LEITI secretariat, Konah Karmo. The president’s action was condemned by local and international organizations, including Global Witness.