HGP Nightly News – Indigenous leaders must not remain silent about government failures out of fear of losing political access or state resources, Kako Toshao Romario “Kapohn” Hastings has warned following the MV Barima tragedy.
In a Facebook statement on Sunday, Hastings argued that some community leaders hesitate to challenge those in authority because of the possible consequences for themselves and their villages.
“Every time accountability is traded for access, our people ultimately pay the greater price,” he wrote.
Hastings said the disaster exposed deeper political and institutional weaknesses affecting Indigenous communities, including how their concerns are represented and how decisions about services and resources are made.
“My Indigenous brothers and sisters, we have failed you,” he declared.
His criticism was not directed solely at toshaos. Hastings said everyone entrusted with representing and advocating for Indigenous people shared responsibility for allowing political considerations to weaken their collective voice.
He alleged that politics influenced appointments, service delivery, resource allocation and the urgency given to longstanding community concerns.
Politics also determined who spoke out when systems failed and who chose to remain silent, he contended.
Hastings did not identify specific leaders who had been threatened or denied resources for criticising the government. His remarks reflected a broader concern that communities dependent on central government support may feel pressured to avoid confrontation.
He rejected calls not to “make the MV Barima tragedy political,” arguing that Indigenous people live daily with the consequences of political decisions made by others.
Those decisions affect transportation, infrastructure, public safety and the delivery of essential services, he said.
Examining political responsibility therefore does not exploit the tragedy, according to Hastings. It asks whether the people entrusted with power made the decisions necessary to protect citizens and whether they accepted responsibility when systems failed.
Hastings said he would have resigned had he been Public Works Minister Juan Edghill.
“Not because resignation alone brings back those we have lost,” he wrote, “but because leadership is measured not only by accepting praise when things go well, but by accepting responsibility when they do not.”
He did not accuse Edghill of personally causing the ferry to capsize. His call was based on the principle of ministerial responsibility for the agencies and systems under the Public Works portfolio.
Edghill has remained involved in coordinating the government’s response and has not indicated that he intends to step down.
President Irfaan Ali has appointed a five-member international Commission of Inquiry to examine the MV Barima’s maintenance, seaworthiness, passenger and cargo records, regulatory oversight and search-and-recovery response.
The commission will determine whether negligence, misconduct, dereliction of duty or institutional failures contributed to the disaster.
Hastings said the process must lead to more than another report. Region One needs genuine reform, stronger leadership and representatives willing to demand accountability even when doing so is politically uncomfortable.
He urged continued prayers and support for the families of those who died and remain missing.
For Hastings, honouring those families also requires Indigenous leaders to ask difficult questions, without first calculating what access, favour or assistance they might lose.
