Commentator Christopher Ram has called on President Irfaan Ali to immediately establish an independent Commission of Inquiry under the Guyana Shipping Act, 1998 to investigate the tragic capsizing of the MV Barima which has resulted in 27 fatalities with 83 others missing and feared dead.
In an open letter to the President seen by Kiskadee Watch Ram said that Ali should allow the Commission to discharge its mandate “completely independently, free from interference or influence of any kind”.
He also pointed out that a period of mourning has to be announced.
Since the capsizing on Saturday night, the government has scrambled to respond to a disaster that has grown daily with disclosures and deepening grief in north west communities.
Ram, a chartered accountant and lawyer, said that in any national disaster, Government’s first obligation is to activate a machinery capable of minimising further loss of life and damage to property and coordinating rescue efforts among other things.
“That is precisely why Parliament enacted the Guyana Shipping Act, 1998. It recognised that when lives are lost in rivers or at sea, the search for truth cannot be left to official assurances or political debate. The Act itself is an elaborate piece of legislation establishing a statutory framework governing maritime safety, regulation and the independent investigation of marine casualties. It also separated the operation of vessels from their regulation by establishing the Maritime Administration as the country’s maritime regulator. My cursory reading of the Act is that it has been systematically ignored in practice. But that is a matter for another forum”, he stated.
As the nation comes to terms with the scale of this tragedy, Ram said that disturbing questions arise.
• Was the Barima properly maintained and operated by the Transport and Harbours Department?
• Had the Maritime Administration discharged its statutory responsibility to regulate and oversee the vessel’s safety to protect lives and limbs of passengers and crew?
• Were the vessel’s inspections, surveys and certificates current and fully compliant with the law?
• Had the Maritime Administration identified any deficiencies and, if so, what corrective action was required and taken?
• Did the Transport and Harbours Department comply with every statutory requirement governing passenger safety?
• How did the Minister, who bears responsibility for both the operator and the regulator, satisfy himself that each had properly discharged its separate statutory responsibilities?
• Did failures of operation, regulation, supervision or enforcement contribute to this disaster?
*Does this concentration of responsibility within a single ministry compromise the independence of the regulatory process?
These, he said, are legal and factual questions. He added that the purpose of an independent investigation is not to assign blame before the evidence is heard. “It is to ensure that the evidence is gathered independently, examined objectively and reported publicly. That is how confidence is built”, he said.
He added that there is a widespread perception that official investigations too often fail to satisfy the reasonable expectation that every relevant fact will be exposed and every lesson learnt. Against that background, Ram said that the handling of the Barima tragedy assumes even greater significance.
“Mr. President, the Barima must not be allowed to become another national tragedy remembered only for grief and unanswered questions. It should be remembered as the moment when your Administration demonstrated, by action rather than words, that in Guyana the rule of law is stronger than official convenience, party interest and the protection of personalities. The families of the victims deserve the truth. The people of Guyana deserve accountability. History will remember whether your Administration chose official reassurance or independent scrutiny.
“I therefore respectfully urge you to declare an appropriate period of national mourning in honour of those who lost their lives. Thereafter, and without delay, to establish an independent Commission of Inquiry under the Guyana Shipping Act, 1998, and to allow it to discharge its mandate completely independently, free from interference or influence of any kind”, Ram urged.
Discussion