Monday and Tuesday were two days that stunned me. On Monday I saw the joint opposition in action. The political opposition shared the same sentiments about the ill-fated MV Barima.
All the bodies have not been recovered; the vessel still lies on the ocean bed with God knows how many bodies still trapped inside. There is no way of ascertaining the cargo. There is also no way of determining the seaworthiness of the vessel. It cannot be inspected.
President Irfaan Ali also announced a Commission of Inquiry. The members have all been recruited from overseas.
Dr Terrence Campbell, before the President’s announcement, had sent a note seeking a discussion in the National Assembly on the composition of the Commission.
That note became irrelevant because the president pre-empted any discussion by announcing the commission.
Of interest is the fact that three members of the commission are reportedly tainted by reports of malfeasance. To hear President Ali announce their credentials would belie the true character of the individuals.
The commissioners would determine the terms and conditions of the inquiry. The consensus was that the vessel was unseaworthy. The details of the damaged parts were exposed during the tender process.
Then there is the question about the commissioners talking with the survivors. The survivors could testify to the conditions on the boat. They could also testify to the state of the vessel.
Meanwhile, the opposition members want the government to send the two Ministers with responsibility for maritime issues off the job. They made their aspirations known in no uncertain way.
The government, in the face of the tragedy, kept operating as though it was business as usual. In fact, it went to the National Assembly for even more money. This was the government that presented the largest budget in the history of the country just a few short months ago.
In fact, it had gone back to the National Assembly for more money in March. And despite all this money, the national debt has trebled.
The opposition members noted these things and decided that there could be no business as usual. They said that all should be mourning with those who have lost family members when the Barima sank.
Instead, the government merely observed one minute of silence in the National Assembly then proceeded to raid the Treasury. Nothing could be more aggravating and disrespectful to the relatives of those who suffered.
The placards came out. The police, who have long emerged as the enforcement arm of the government, decided to stop people from entering the National Assembly with placards. Their job is to maintain law and order.
They could act if there is unbecoming behaviour; they could act if someone poses a threat to life and limb of the parliamentarians; but it is not in their line of duty to prevent a parliamentarian from entering the National Assembly. That is what they tried to do on Monday.
They also stopped some people from entering the assembly when that is a public place open to all.
The parliamentarians prevailed. They forced the suspension of the House; they called for the removal of the two Ministers, Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar. They highlighted the fact that the government does not seem to care about people.
Politicians can only do so much. The people whom they represent should also make their voices heard. Parliamentarian Amanza Walton-Desir said as much.
But as has always been the case, the people can have their say but the government will have its way. The government went ahead with its pursuit of funds from the national treasury and succeeded because of its parliamentary majority.
Tuesday provided another shocker. The government went ahead and charged three seamen with more than seventy counts of murder. The state is contending that the seamen killed the people aboard the Barima.
Murder is a deliberate act. For the state to claim that the men deliberately killed the people is beyond imagination.
These men suffered the trauma for finding themselves in rough waters in the Atlantic, clinging on to anything to save their lives while people died round them. These were men who were forced to go to sea in a vessel that should not have been sailing.
Having survived the trauma of averting their deaths by drowning the first thing the government did was to place them in prison. For six days they languished in a cell with no access to counselling.
They spent eight days in custody, perhaps recapping the horror they survived. They should have spent three days, but the government approached the court for an extension which was granted.
The extension ended on Saturday, but the men remained in custody until Tuesday morning when they were taken to court.
The charge is seen as an attempt to deflect from the harsh reality that the state is criminally liable. By being in prison and because the COI could find evidence that could be incriminating, the charge has officially silenced them.
It would be interesting to see how the state would set about proving that the men conspired and deliberately killed the passengers onboard the Barima.
It was the same when the police announced that they were charging Sherod Duncan with flying a drone in a restricted area.
There was no announcement that the Pomeroon River was a restricted zone. Duncan was detained and informed that he would be charged.
Today this does not seem to be the case. There has been no such charge filed.
All too often the government seeks to charge those of its opponents who cause it pain. Those charges have all been thrown out. But the government gets some satisfaction that it was able to inflict discomfort.
