Director of the Department of Energy (DoE), Dr. Mark Bynoe, has rejected the claim published in the May 17th edition of the Kaieteur News that Oil Consultant Dr Michael Warner, who was hired to complete Guyana’s draft Local Content Policy, is employed by ExxonMobil. Dr Bynoe stressed that his hiring was done through a fair and transparent process.
According to a statement released by the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP), Kaieteur News in an article titled, “Sole sourced or open tender? Questions surface over contract awarded to ExxonMobil’s employee,” stated that “Dr. Warner is an employee of DAI, the contractor engaged by ExxonMobil to manage the Local Content Centre for Development.”
The DoE is rejecting this statement as false and stated that it is yet another indication that the Kaieteur News rushed to publication instead of first checking its facts.
“Dr Warner is not an employee of ExxonMobil. Dr Warner was at the time contracted with DAI, which is a huge consultancy firm, and he was doing some work with DAI, [which] has been contracted with ExxonMobil to assist with the establishment of the Centre for Local Business Development here. Since Dr. Warner has started this… local content process with us he has severed links with DAI. In fact, he is doing just part-time work with DAI and other individuals, and as a result of that we are comfortable that we are getting value for money where Dr. Warner is concerned,” Dr Bynoe was quoted as saying.
The Director expressed his perturbance at the Kaieteur News article as he claims that very question was posed to him by Kaieteur News journalist, Kiana Wilburg at a DoE press conference on May 3rd and it was addressed then.
Wilburg was said to have asked, “…there have been some concerns about the fact that an ExxonMobil specialist, Michael Warner is the one leading the review of the document. Could you say whether the Energy Department is concerned about this in terms of ensuring that the provisions are in keeping with the best interest of the country?”
According to Dr Bynoe his verbatim response was, “…let me first say that he is not an ExxonMobil specialist. He is a local content specialist whose expertise has been used by a multiplicity of entities inclusive of ExxonMobil. Guyana is utilising his services and we have hired him based on a competitive process where, like other consultants, he had the opportunity to have his CV submitted to us. It was sent to the World Bank [which] is financing this project and we are confident that we are currently getting value for money.”
As the Director sees it, there are ambiguities in the paper’s questions about the hiring process for the post which he rejects. He emphasised that Dr Warner was selected as the best candidate to execute the project from among a total of three applications, following a limited competitive selection process, which is in keeping with World Bank regulations.
He said that Dr Warner’s selection was consistent with the World Bank’s current regulations and added, “…there would have been an evaluation report completed which had to then go to the World Bank for their non-objection and based on that Dr Warner was selected as the best candidate to execute this consultancy.”
