It is disgraceful and disrespectful to the estimated 100 lives lost, those still missing and the traumatized that the Commission of Inquiry is still to begin into the MV Barima disaster.
More than a month has elapsed and the government has bumbled its way through a maze of unaccountability. It has steadfastly refused to remove Ministers Edghill and Indar who hold line responsibility for this sector and who have shown no inkling of recognition of ministerial responsibility let alone moral accountability.
The government has also on its own fabricated a Commission of Inquiry without a hint of consultation with the communities most affected, Parliament, with the Leader of the Opposition or with civil society. It has singlehandedly composed this commission and populated it with persons who have legitimate questions swirling around them as to whether they are suitable for this task. As presently composed there is little confidence that this Commission of Inquiry will deliver and it needs to get going swiftly so that the public’s judgement of it can be borne out.
While President Ali steadfastly argued yesterday that he did not want to prejudice the work of the Commission of Inquiry by taking action against ministers and others in the Transport and Harbour Department (T&HD) that is exactly what his government has done. His administration has enabled 73 murder charges against the captain of the MV Barima and two other T&HD employees supposedly on the industry of the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). This state of affairs prompted a postulation at the funeral of one of the crew members that had he not perished he, too, might have been facing 73 murder charges.
We ask again. On what grounds and what information did the DPP take up the task of investigating three men and constructing 73 murder charges? Who swore to information to the police while ignoring the higher officials who should also have been accountable?
Has the clutch of reports about serious problems aboard the MV Barima prior to the catastrophic sinking on July 18 awakened any interest in President Ali or the DPP? Or has myopia taken grip in these offices?
At a human level, the government continues to fail the victims of the MV Barima based on their testimony to Kiskadee Watch. When the history of this horrific capsizing is written one of the central figures will be Helena Moonsammy. She was travelling with seven grandchildren and a niece. She lost four of her grandchildren and had to struggle for hours on the Atlantic waters to stay alive. When she was last spoken to by Kiskadee Watch the care or interest shown by the state in her loss and continuing trauma was negligible.
Ms Moonsammy told Kiskadee Watch that she had received very limited counselling since the disaster. She said she attended counselling once, but accessing the service itself presented a financial challenge.
According to Ms Moonsammy, she had to travel to the location and sought assistance with transportation costs. She said she asked a counsellor whether she could receive assistance with the $5,000 taxi fare to the Leonora Mall where support was being provided, but was told that nothing could be done for her at that time.
Ms Moonsammy said she had been under the impression that counsellors would visit survivors at home. “That’s a surprise to me,” she said when told that counselling was expected to be available through outreach.
President Ali needs to do a far better job of taking care of the needs of Ms Moonsammy, the dozens of others who survived and struggle with trauma each day, the families of those who died and the relatives of those whose loved ones are still missing. The money for this is definitely available. The organization and will to get it done? Those are quite different matters.
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