Watched by the police, the joint opposition last night mounted a vigil outside of the South Ruimveldt home of Public Works Minister Juan Edghill calling for him and Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar to resign over the tragic sinking of MV Barima with the loss of over 70 lives.
Among the persons present for the over two-hour vigil were Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed, Leader of APNU in parliament, Terrence Campbell and a number of MPs including Odessa Primus, Vishnu Panday and Sherod Duncan.
Emotions ran high as some persons spoke about the loss of life when the MV Barima capsized.
MP Janelle Sweatnam recounted a meeting at the Umana Yana with a woman who lost children. The baby had only just left the Amerindian Hostel.
Wrapping up the vigil, Mohamed lobbed salvoes at the PPP/C. He said he knew that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has not been happy with the way thing are going under President Irfaan Ali.
Mohamed declared Ali to be one of the richest presidents in the history of the Caribbean with a big farm at Long Creek and a monthly salary of $3m.
Mohamed alleged that the captain of the MV Barima, Kevin Price had been reluctant to make the ill-fated trip on July 18 as he was of the few that the vessel was overloaded. Mohamed said that at least five survivors will attest to the captain’s position. He said the captain did not want to leave but received instructions to do so. Even when the vessel was leaving it had already begun to take in water, the Opposition Leader said.
Mohamed further said that around 10 pm on July 18 when the ferry was in distress only one engine was working and this made the vessel susceptible to overturning. He lamented that even though the vessel capsized at 10.20 pm, it took the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) coast guard seven hours to get to the scene and begin rescuing survivors.
He underlined again that the two GDF helicopters were down at this key moment and that there was no search and rescue capacity in the country. He said that he was disappointed with the coast guard’s response under Captain Shamsudeen. He said that the GDF coast guard base at Pomeroon was merely 20 minutes away from the point of capsizing yet it took the service hours to get to survivors and many of the persons on the water would have succumbed by then.
He charged that there had been infighting in the government over who should get the $125m contract for the rehabilitation of the MV Barima and the task should have been finished before July 18.
Mohamed said that he wanted the government to know that he will be on their backs every single day. He accused the government of slapping murder charges on three “innocent” men from the T&HD. He vowed to support the families of the three men from his salary as Opposition Leader.
“You put murder charges on three innocent men…I know y’all trying hard with me (to bring a murder charge) ..but I am one step ahead…”, he declared. He accused the police of trying to have some of his former employees make up false things against him but that the former employees hadn’t fallen for this.
He ended by saying that there was need for protests throughout the country.
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