‘Accountability Must Reach the Top’: APNU Demands.

By Alethea Grant | HGP Nightly News|

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Opposition coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is demanding that Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill and Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar appear before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the sinking of the MV Barima, insisting that administrative accountability cannot stop at regulatory heads and vessel captains.

In a comprehensive policy statement issued on Friday, the political coalition asserted that executive ministers holding portfolio jurisdiction over the maritime sector bear constitutional responsibility for policy direction, regulatory oversight, resource allocation, and overall institutional readiness.

APNU maintained that the families of those who perished, surviving passengers, and the Guyanese public are entitled to a full public examination of the ministerial decisions and systemic neglect that preceded the maritime tragedy.

Catalog of Failures: Questioning Safety Protocols and Basic Gear

Drawing on evidence revealed across the first seven days of public evidentiary hearings at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, APNU outlined a series of institutional failures that it argued require ministerial answers under oath:

• No Safety Drills or Manuals: The absence of mandatory safety drills, codified operating manuals, and structured maintenance schedules for state-operated vessels.
• Unregistered Emergency Beacon: An Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) whose incomplete statutory registration delayed search-and-rescue teams from confirming whether a ship or aircraft was in distress.
• Communications Breakdown: Rescue vessels losing primary internet and satellite connectivity without operational analog or digital redundancies.
• Night Operations Deficits: Severe technological limitations that impaired night search-and-rescue operations along the Atlantic coast.
• Survivors Without Life Jackets: Testimony confirming that none of the 26 survivors recovered by one Coast Guard interceptor unit had been outfitted with a life jacket, raising serious questions regarding whether life-saving appliances were accessible or emergency instructions provided to passengers before the vessel foundered.

Command Inertia: Coast Guard SOPs Stagnant for Three Years

APNU singled out disclosures regarding military and maritime search-and-rescue administration, labeling the lack of institutional readiness as negligence:

• Three-Year SOP Stagnation: Sworn testimony before the commission established that Coast Guard Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) had not been reviewed, modernized, or updated throughout the Coast Guard Commander’s three-year tenure.
• Absence of Joint SAR Simulations: The coalition expressed shock that inter-agency search-and-rescue rehearsals had been omitted, with military leadership indicating to the commission that they saw “no need” for joint exercises prior to the disaster.
• Transparency Demands: APNU challenged the administration to declare publicly whether post-disaster corrections have been instituted across maritime safety, search-and-rescue, and emergency-readiness frameworks, demanding the publication of implementation timelines, designated officers, and verified training records.

The Oil Wealth Paradox: ‘Billions in Revenue, Zero Institutional Capacity’

Connecting the disaster to broader national governance, APNU argued that the systemic dysfunction exposed at the hearings undermines the administration’s claims regarding the management of Guyana’s petroleum revenues:

• Failing the Institutional Test: APNU contended that the government has failed to demonstrate that it is translating the country’s oil wealth into the regulatory strength, technical competence, and human capacity demanded by an expanding economy.
• Investments in Basic Survival: A nation with unprecedented financial liquidity, the party argued, cannot justify unmonitored ports, uncalibrated navigational hubs, overloaded state ferries, and unmaintained emergency assets.

“A country boasting unprecedented resources must invest in qualified personnel, competent regulators, maintained equipment, reliable communications, and rehearsed emergency systems,” APNU stated.

The coalition concluded that based on the evidence presented to the commission, the administration has failed to convert expanded financial resources into basic public safety, reiterating that Ministers Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar must take the witness stand without delay.