Nearly a month after the deadly MV Barima disaster, the government has still not provided a start date for the Commission of Inquiry into the tragedy, even as the process to select a contractor to salvage the sunken vessel moves forward.
The issue was raised directly with Prime Minister Mark Phillips during a media briefing yesterday, with questions from Kiskadee Watch focusing on when the Commission of Inquiry will begin and whether the government expects the salvage process to meet its stated deadlines.
The Prime Minister did not provide a date for the commencement of the inquiry.
Instead, he pointed to the ongoing procurement process for salvaging the MV Barima, explaining that the deadline for contractors to submit expressions of interest was yesterday.
He said the submitted bids must first be evaluated before a contractor is selected and negotiations are undertaken.
“The process has started,” the Prime Minister said, while maintaining that the government is proceeding one step at a time.
Despite repeated questions about when the Commission of Inquiry will formally begin its work, no specific commencement date was announced during the briefing.
The absence of a start date leaves families of those who died in the July disaster and the wider public still waiting for clarity on when the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the sinking will formally get underway.
The Commission is expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the MV Barima disaster, including the events leading to the vessel’s sinking and the handling of the emergency.
The salvaging of the MV Barima is expected to be important to the broader investigation into the disaster, particularly if investigators require access to the vessel and its condition to establish what happened.
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