Dear Editor
I welcome ExxonMobil Guyana’s reporting on its local content performance, including the disclosure of vendor spending and Guyanese employment figures. These numbers add value to the national discussion on how our oil and gas industry is unfolding.
But the Guyanese people must be clear: the Local Content Act does not entrust the measurement of success to ExxonMobil. The law established the Local Content Secretariat with the power to audit, verify, and publish official reports, and it requires the Minister of Natural Resources to account to the National Assembly. These institutions, not corporate press releases, are the guardians of transparency and accountability in our oil sector.
ExxonMobil’s disclosures should therefore supplement, not substitute, government’s independent accounting. I call on the Minister and the Secretariat to publish verified figures on Guyanese vendor participation, workforce composition, training hours, and overall expenditure. Only through independent government reporting can the public be assured that the benefits claimed are real, measurable, and in line with the spirit of the law.
Our oil wealth belongs to the Guyanese people. We must insist that it is Guyana’s own institutions, not foreign operators, that grade our progress under the Local Content Act.
yours truly
Sherod Duncan
