GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed has accused President Irfaan Ali of bullying and threatening the families of MV Barima tragedy victims, following a heated meeting between family of victims and the President at State House on Wednesday. According to reports by grieving relatives, they were allegedly berated and warned of arrest if they documented their loved ones’ exhumation.
The family members—who lost a mother, her two-year-old child, and a husband in the MV Barima incident—had sought the President’s intervention after their loved ones were buried in what they describe as a degrading manner. The initial burial, overseen by Minister Sonia Parag, involved an excavator digging a hole in a remote bush area where the single casket containing multiple family members was lowered and covered with dirt in the presence of the minister.
“We were promised a tomb burial,” Mohamed recounted on behalf of the family. Instead, the burial was conducted in an “open-out area” without proper ceremony or dignity.
The family met with President Ali on Wednesday morning, hoping for a resolution. A relative described the encounter: “When I met with the president at the state house this morning, I got a bit hope… then he said how he can’t do nothing about it it. The most he could do, just build with the tomb, and we have to do the rest after that.”
The grieving relative expressed shock at the President’s response: “I was so shocked when he tell us that, as a president, knowing how this mother and child and husband die in an incident like this… and how painful death of them must be gone.”
Most troubling, according to the family, were President Ali’s explicit threats regarding documentation of the exhumation process. “He told me that we can’t take no photograph, no videos or nothing because maybe of the disease in the tomb,” the relative said. “We can do nothing like that because we be arrested by the police.”
The President reportedly instructed a police officer that “any pictures or any videos during the transfer, they must be arrested.”
Opposition Leader, Azrudin Mohamed responded with condemnation: “Wow, this is dictatorship. Why can’t families of the deceased take photos of their loved ones at the burial ground for memories? This is dictatorship.”
Minister Parag’s Role
The family has specifically pointed to Minister Sonia Parag’s involvement in the original burial, which they described as inhumane and undignified. The minister was present when the casket containing the mother, baby, and husband was buried with heavy machinery in what appeared to be an isolated bush location.
Opposition Leader’s Pledge
Mohamed called on President Ali to immediately send the same government excavator to retrieve the casket and grant the family a proper burial at a recognized burial ground. “President Ali, I’m calling on you to get the excavator, the same excavator that your government sent there. It won’t take more than two minutes for that excavator to dig back,” Mohamed urged. “Give them the rights and the dignity that they deserve. They are human beings, not because they are poor people. You’re gonna take advantage and trample on their rights.”
Mohamed has pledged to personally arrange a private excavator if the government refuses to act, noting he has already contacted a contractor ready to assist the family.
A Nation Watching
The Opposition Leader appealed to the public: “I hope the people of this country pay keen attention to what is happening right before our eyes. This is a sad state of affairs presently in this country.”
As the family awaits President Ali’s response, they continue to grieve while fighting for the right to bury their loved ones with the dignity they deserve.
The Office of the President has not yet issued a response to these allegations. The family has also filed a constitutional case with the Appeal Court regarding this matter.
