It is quite possible that the bereaved families of the victims of Saturday’s catastrophic capsizing of the MV Barima are comforted in some way by the three days of mourning announced by the government, the candlelight vigils it has organized across the country and the attendance of senior ministers at burials even if the relatives of some deceased are still missing.
However, what the families and the public at large will demand are answers for the comprehensive failures of the state and its machinery which eventuated in Saturday’s disaster and a reckoning across the board. This will clearly require decisive action by the President in whom the Burnham constitution reposes so many powers that even he might sometimes lose track of what is expected.
First, there must be the immediate composing of a Commission of Inquiry with bipartisan support. As had been suggested in these columns earlier there should already have been an emergency session of Parliament to address this monumental disaster. A routine sitting has been set for Monday. That cannot be a routine sitting. The Standing Orders must be suspended to enable a debate on an all-party construction of the terms of reference for an inquiry which the President will then sign off on. The search for commissioners should then begin in earnest and again must involve cross-party input and consultation with the communities most affected by this catastrophe. The model for the Commission of Inquiry into the 2023 Mahdia dorm fire will not work.
With each passing day, the tales of heroism and supreme sacrifice in the waters of the Atlantic on Saturday night and Sunday morning eclipse all else that may try to take the spotlight. A nine-year-old child separated from her mother and brother still managed to save herself and a younger child who was a stranger to her. A man accompanying his brother and the body of his sister-in-law rescued a child who clung to him. His brother did not survive. Another man helped a young mother with a baby to hold on to a floating item while he himself disappeared under the water. A woman saw seven of her grandchildren swept away before her eyes, some crushed by falling cargo. She has survived and will relive that nightmare each day.
When things have settled somewhat, the state must finance a careful and comprehensive recording of the testimonies of all 76 known survivors of this tragedy for posterity so there is no risk of its dissipation over time and lost memories.
Until then, the temporal and proximate questions must be answered by the government as preparations are made for an inquiry.
-Why was an 87-year-old vessel with severe maintenance needs still in service on the Atlantic route nearly seven years after oil revenues began pouring into the country’s coffers? The take in the second quarter this year was US$1.2b.
-Why was the local search and rescue network so lacklustre in the crucial hours following the capsizing?
-Why are travellers to the northwest still sleeping rough on long voyages with the sea threatening on all sides?
-Why had systems so collapsed that dozens of persons aboard the MV Barima were not on the manifest?
-Why is legislation pertaining to the seaworthiness of vessels observed in the breach?
-Why has a wharf at Port Kaituma to accommodate a vessel purchased in 2023 not been completed four years on?
-Why has a ferry procured from Greece not been deployed on the journey to the northwest as yet?
-Why hasn’t Minister Edghill been removed from his post?
There are many other questions that regular commuters between Georgetown and Port Kaituma and Kumaka may wish to add. However, the government must first depart from its proclivity to deflect and digress. The deaths of 20 children in a state dormitory fire at Mahdia in 2023 did not detain the government too long from the type of reckless, autocratic and unthinking governance that has now enmeshed it in Saturday’s disaster. It is now left to be seen how it responds to the largest loss of Guyanese lives in a single event in the entire 60 years of independent Guyana.
Discussion