Transparency International Guyana Inc. (TIGI) has refused to endorse the Government’s newly appointed Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the MV Barima disaster, arguing that the process lacks the transparency, consultation and independence required to investigate one of the country’s deadliest maritime tragedies.
In a strongly worded statement issued Sunday evening following a national civil society consultation, TIGI said it currently has “no confidence” in the Commission as constituted, not because of the professional standing of the commissioners themselves, but because the Government established the body without consulting those most affected by the disaster.
The organisation is now calling on President Irfaan Ali to suspend the Commission’s work, consult key stakeholders within seven days, and reconstitute the inquiry in a manner capable of commanding public confidence.
The statement comes as Guyana continues to grapple with the aftermath of the July 18 sinking of the state-owned MV Barima, in which 73 people have been confirmed dead while 30 others remain missing, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in the country’s history.
Civil society consultation
TIGI said it convened a virtual national consultation on Saturday involving approximately two dozen participants representing Indigenous and community organisations, faith leaders, trade unions, maritime and disaster management professionals, academics, members of the media, diaspora representatives, and relatives of victims.
The organisation began by extending condolences to grieving families and communities across Region One.
“We hold the bereaved and the survivors in our thoughts, and we thank those still engaged in the work of recovery,” TIGI stated.
The organisation also acknowledged the efforts of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard, private boat operators, and international rescue teams from Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil.
“The rescue was real. The Coast Guard went out at night. Private boat operators with no obligation to anyone went out alongside them. Trinidadian and Brazilian teams came. Seventy-six people are alive today who would otherwise not be. That deserves the nation’s thanks, and it has ours without reservation.”
TIGI further recognised that appointing an international Commission responded to widespread public calls for an independent investigation.
“The decision to appoint an international Commission responds to a central public demand, and we recognise it as such.”
However, it stressed that neither acknowledgement addresses the central issue of how and why the Commission was established.
“Independent commissioners are not the same as an independent process”
According to TIGI, the Government’s decision to appoint foreign commissioners does not automatically guarantee public confidence.
“A competent rescue does not answer the question of why the rescue was necessary. And the appointment of non-Guyanese commissioners is not the same thing as an independent process.”
The organisation said the Commission was constituted without consultation with the parliamentary opposition, the National Toshaos Council, affected Region One communities or civil society.
Citing Article 13 of Guyana’s Constitution, TIGI argued that inclusionary democracy requires meaningful public involvement in decisions affecting citizens’ well-being. Article 13, which sets out the political objective of society and speaks to “inclusionary democracy,” mandates the inclusion of organisations and citizens in the management and decision-making processes of the State that impact their well-being.
“The President’s discretion to appoint under the Commissions of Inquiry Act is not in dispute. What is in dispute is whether that discretion may be exercised without the consultation our Constitution contemplates, on a matter of this gravity, affecting a State-operated service in which seventy-three citizens died.”
TIGI further argued that because the MV Barima was owned, regulated and operated by the State, any inquiry examining what occurred cannot be established solely by the Government.
“The MV Barima was a State vessel. It was regulated by a State agency, operated by a State department, and falls under a Ministry whose leadership remains in place. This is not a government matter. It is a State matter.”
The organisation also criticised the failure to publish the Commission’s Terms of Reference and the absence of any commitment that the final report will be released publicly.
“Guyana has held Commissions of Inquiry before whose reports the Guyanese people have never seen.”
It concluded:
“TIGI therefore does not at this time have confidence in the Commission as constituted… Our objection is to a process that excluded the people most affected from any part in constituting the body that will judge what happened to them.”
Five tests for the Commission
Rather than reject the inquiry outright, TIGI announced five measurable benchmarks against which it says the Commission will be judged.
Among them are the immediate publication of the Commission’s instrument of appointment and Terms of Reference, declarations of interest by each commissioner, a written guarantee that the final report will be published in full, separation of the marine safety investigation from any criminal proceedings, and a system requiring every recommendation to be assigned to a responsible public office with implementation deadlines and progress reports.
“Independence that cannot be verified is not independence; it is an assurance. The public is entitled to the former,” TIGI said.
The organisation also warned that if witnesses fear criminal prosecution, the Commission may never learn the full truth.
“Without testimonial protection, the Commission will not be told the truth. And a prosecution must not be permitted to stand in for an explanation: if this ends with a conviction and no reform, we will have held someone accountable and changed nothing.”
Calls for Commission to be paused
As a remedy, TIGI urged President Ali to halt the inquiry before hearings begin.
“The remedy is neither complicated nor unprecedented.”
It called on the President to suspend commencement of the Commission’s work and, within seven days, convene consultations involving the Leader of the Opposition, the National Toshaos Council, affected communities and civil society to agree both the Commission’s composition and its Terms of Reference.
The organisation proposed drawing technical investigators from internationally respected marine accident investigation agencies, including the United Kingdom’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, or Australia’s Transport Safety Bureau, with technical assistance from the International Maritime Organization if required.
“This costs the Government nothing but a week. It would convert a contested appointment into a national one.”
Immediate action beyond the inquiry
TIGI also identified four issues it believes require immediate Government action rather than waiting for the Commission’s findings.
It warned families against signing compensation agreements that waive legal rights, referencing concerns raised following the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire.
“We say plainly to every affected family: you are under no obligation to sign anything, and no payment should be conditioned on your surrender of any legal right.”
The organisation also called for comprehensive plans for orphaned children, deployment of trained disaster-response counsellors, and urgent measures to ensure safe transportation for Region One residents.
It noted that a US$12.7 million replacement vessel for the route has already been purchased but remains out of service because port infrastructure at Port Kaituma has not been completed.
“Government should publish a completion date. Until the route is demonstrably safe, subsidised alternative transport should be provided to the communities that depend on it.”
“The oldest vessel was assigned to those with the fewest alternatives”
In one of the statement’s most pointed observations, TIGI said the disaster exposed longstanding inequalities in public transportation infrastructure serving Guyana’s hinterland communities.
“Region One has no road. For the people of Mabaruma, Port Kaituma and the surrounding communities, that vessel was not a convenience — it was the connection between a community and its country.”
“The oldest vessel in the fleet was assigned to the citizens with the fewest alternatives. That is the fact this inquiry exists to confront.”
TIGI rejected suggestions that its position is politically motivated, insisting that accountability, not partisanship, must guide the national response.
“No child aboard that vessel belonged to a political party.”
“What we are asking for is not a change of government but a standard of competence in matters where competence is the only thing between our citizens and the sea: that every passenger on every State vessel is counted before it sails, that no eighty-seven-year-old hull carries schoolchildren, and that when an inquiry tells this country what went wrong, someone is named to fix it.”
The organisation said it stands ready to participate in any genuine consultation process and pledged to publicly monitor the Commission’s performance against the five standards it has established.
