Dear Editor,
The decision to charge three Transport and Harbours Department employees with murder over the MV Barima tragedy is as astonishing as it is troubling. While the courts will determine their guilt or innocence, many Guyanese are asking a far more fundamental question: Why are the workers in the dock while those responsible for the condition of the vessel remain beyond the reach of the law?
The MV Barima did not become an 87-year-old vessel overnight. If reports are accurate that it had longstanding maintenance issues, was due for dry docking, and had been the subject of concerns about its condition, then responsibility for this national tragedy cannot begin and end with the captain, chief mate and goods superintendent.
Ships are maintained—or neglected—through decisions made far above the bridge. They are inspected, certified and kept in service by managers, engineers, regulators and government officials. If there were failures in maintenance, oversight, inspection or seaworthiness, those decisions were not made by the crew alone.
Instead of allowing a comprehensive investigation to establish the full chain of responsibility, the Government has moved with remarkable speed to prosecute three frontline workers for murder. It gives the unmistakable appearance that those with the least institutional power are being placed at the centre of public outrage while the spotlight is diverted from those who made the decisions that allowed the ferry to continue operating.
The Government has announced a Commission of Inquiry, yet it has ignored calls for an independent maritime casualty investigation—the internationally recognised process used to determine the technical causes of marine disasters. Such an investigation could establish whether the vessel was seaworthy, whether maintenance failures, regulatory lapses, management decisions or other systemic failures contributed to the catastrophe. Those findings would help identify everyone who may bear responsibility—not just those who happened to be aboard when disaster struck.
The families of the victims deserve more than symbolic prosecutions. They deserve the truth. They deserve to know who approved the vessel for service, who ignored warnings, who signed inspection reports, who made maintenance decisions, and whether those actions—or failures to act—contributed to the loss of so many lives.
If accountability stops with three workers while those responsible for managing and overseeing the ferry escape scrutiny, then justice will not have been served. It will simply have found convenient scapegoats.
The MV Barima tragedy demands courage, honesty and a willingness to follow the evidence wherever it leads—even if it reaches the highest levels of government. Anything less would be a profound injustice to the victims, their families and the people of Guyana.
Yours truly,
Name and address supplied
