Dear Editor,
The horrific capsizing of the MV Barima off Iron Punt was a tragedy waiting to happen. It was just a matter of time for disaster. Gross indifference was on display by the authorities at the Ministry and at the wharf. It was gross mismanagement to put un unseaworthy vessel to ply the dangerous ocean, even if the water was calm for sailing just seven miles off the coast; the 87 years old vessel should have been rehabilitated if not retired decades ago. It was also terrible judgment by ministry not providing oversight of staff at the wharf and the crew on board. The staff, it is now learnt by reliable sources, overloaded the vessel. Several of the crew were drinking (some drunk) and or high on weed. Should the Minister be held accountable and resign or be fired? And if so, shouldn’t other Ministers who were responsible for major disasters in agriculture, education, utilities, etc., also be fired? With multiple disasters, shouldn’t the President also go? What is Jagdeo waiting on to take action?
When an 87 years old state-managed ferry turns turtle in just a few minutes after taking in water, with an unknown number of passengers in the dark Atlantic, fearing the worst but hoping for the best, it is not an act of God. It is a man-made disaster. It is damning, undeniable monument to systematic government failure, structural rot, and a catastrophic collapse of public oversight. Heads must roll but whose? Should the President resign? Where was he? Was it publicly revealed where he went? Was he at the football world cup final? Did he fly home immediately after learning of the disaster or did he wait? And why were government officials at the world cup where the minimum price for a ticket was US$20K (G$4 M)? If any official was in a private box that would be between US$100K to $200K ($20 M for a tkt). Who paid for all the tickets to the games? Who paid for private box? Did the corrupt deceased from # 58 village buy the tickets and pass them to officials before his passing? World Cup was a private event unrelated to government business? Who paid for airline tickets to the game? The government?
For years, commuters and maritime observers warned that sending this aging, structural relic into the open ocean was a game of Russian roulette with human lives. Yet, the Ministry of Works routinely stamped its approval, prioritizing bureaucratic convenience over basic human safety. They chose to patch up an infrastructure nightmare rather than implement a dignified, modern transit system for our vulnerable hinterland communities who rely on these vessels as a literal lifeline. A new boat was long needed. Instead, money was siphoned from the ministry through questionable projects.
The physical decay of the boat is only half the crime; the moral and operational decay allowed on board is what truly sealed its fate and that of dozens of passengers and crew. Crime was committed and contributed to the disaster. How does a government-operated vessel leave port with a manifest so deeply fraudulent that it borders on fiction? Out of 67 people pulled shivering from the sea, only 35 were even registered on the official list. This is not a clerical error. It is a systemic, illegal boarding racket operating right under the nose of port authorities going on for decades. This renders search, rescue, and family notification efforts entirely impossible.
Worse still is the absolute betrayal of public trust by those handed the wheel. That the captain and first engineer tested positive for illegal narcotics following their rescue is a nauseating revelation. There was no oversight of crew. It exposes a culture of absolute lawlessness, zero accountability, and a complete absence of routine medical or psychological screening of state employees. Our citizens placed their lives in the hands of an impaired, unmonitored crew navigating a vessel with unsealed cargo hatches through rough Atlantic swells.
Guyana is currently riding a wave of unprecedented economic wealth, yet its citizens are still forced to drown in the dark on decrepit, unmonitored state ferries. If the PPP administration has any shred of collective conscience left, this investigation will not end with low-level crew scapegoats. The time for reactive circulars, superficial technical committees, and an investigation have long passed. The blood of those missing and dead is on the hands of an administration that treated maritime regulations as optional suggestions. The time for corruption from the top to the bottom must end with accountability. The administration should resign. Or at a minimum, it must result in immediate criminal charges for complicit port officials, a total grounding of obsolete state vessels, and a complete, transparent overhaul of the Ministry of Public Works’ leadership. Anything less is a continuation of the state-sponsored neglect that sank the MV Barima and that has taken many lives.
The whole system of governance in Guyana over the last six years is characterized by a lack of accountability and transparency and by embezzlement of state funds by government officials, including by those at the top; few are not involved in embezzlements of funds obtained from oil and other natural resources. The VP must act – heads must roll.
On the call for resignation of the Minister of Works, worse happened in Ministries of Education (fire disaster and massive corruption), Agriculture (flooding, scams, etc.), Presidency (farm scam, etc.), Utilities (massive corruption), and more. Will they also leave office? The VP must clean house, sack the corrupt Ministers and put before the court other officials!
Yours truly,
Nathan Barton
