Dozens of relatives, civil society activists, opposition politicians and supporters gathered at Fort Street and Wight’s Lane in Kingston to demand answers over the July 18 disaster, the recovery of those still missing and accountability for the sinking of the vessel.
The protest was directed at the Ministry of Public Works and included calls for the resignation of Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and Minister within the ministry Deodat Indar.
The atmosphere changed when Claudine Benn, identified by protesters as a PPP operative, arrived and challenged the demonstrators’ demands, Benn held up a handwritten sign declaring:
“Edghill and Indar going nowhere!”
Her intervention was met with vocal resistance from protesters, who continued chanting for accountability.
The episode has raised questions about whether supporters of the governing PPP were seeking to divert attention from the families’ central demands by turning a protest over a maritime disaster into a partisan political exchange.
Former Public Works Minister Annette Ferguson, who participated in the demonstration, rejected the attempt to shift the focus.
“These grieving families are not seeking confrontation. They are simply demanding answers about the tragedy that took the lives of their loved ones and asking the Government to act.”
Ferguson also questioned how Benn gained access to the government compound and whether she had undergone the same security procedures as protesters and members of the public.
“Who authorised or facilitated her entry onto the compound?”
She further questioned why those challenging the protesters were not present during earlier demonstrations by victims’ families demanding answers.
Families Still Waiting for the Barima
The confrontation occurred as families continue to demand that the MV Barima be raised from the seabed.
The vessel sank on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma. Government figures presented to Parliament indicate that 179 people were ultimately determined to have been aboard, 76 survived, 73 bodies were recovered and about 30 remained missing.
The disaster also exposed serious questions about the vessel’s passenger manifest. Authorities initially worked with a manifest listing 116 passengers and 17 crew, or 133 people, before reviewing boarding footage and determining that significantly more people had been aboard.
Three men have since been charged in connection with the deaths, while paper committal proceedings are continuing in the Charity Magistrate’s Court.
A Commission of Inquiry has also been established, but the vessel itself remains at the bottom of the sea, intensifying demands from relatives who want the wreck recovered and the circumstances surrounding the disaster fully established.
The protest movement has repeatedly used the refrain:
“FLOAT THE BOAT!
BRING THEM HOME!
COME CLEAN WITH THE PEOPLE OF GUYANA!”
For the families, Tuesday’s political clash did not change the central issue. They are still demanding the wreck, the missing and the unanswered questions be brought back into the national spotlight.
The question now is whether the Government will allow that demand to remain the focus — or whether partisan counter-messaging will continue to compete with families seeking answers to one of Guyana’s deadliest maritime disasters.
