By Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News |
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — The Government of Guyana is facing mounting criticism over the composition of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (COI) tasked with investigating the catastrophic sinking of the M.V. Barima, with prominent Indigenous rights activist Laura George warning that the panel fundamentally lacks expertise in Indigenous affairs and human rights.
Speaking on the SOURCES talk show on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, George expressed deep disappointment over what she termed the executive’s unilateral establishment of the inquiry, arguing that the disaster cannot be investigated solely through a narrow maritime engineering lens while ignoring systemic neglect toward hinterland populations.
Unilateral Appointment and the Omission of Indigenous Voices
George asserted that the administration failed to engage in broad-based national consultations before formulating the commission’s mandate and selecting its five international members:
- Absence of Indigenous & Human Rights Experts: George contended that because most passengers on the river ferry belonged to interior Amerindian communities, the panel should have included dedicated human rights and Indigenous legal specialists.
- Exclusion of Survivors and Families: She stressed that the Terms of Reference (TOR) should have been drafted collaboratively alongside survivors, bereaved families, civil society groups, and parliamentary political parties.
- Broad-Based Selection Demanded: George insisted that all parliamentary parties should have had direct input into vetting and naming the commissioners to guarantee independent credibility.
“We should have had a human rights expert, an Indigenous people’s rights expert, because we are not only examining a vessel whether it was old,” George stated during the broadcast. “All those political parties that are members of parliament should have been involved in identifying the commissioners… Working together to develop those terms of reference.”
Expanding the Inquiry Beyond Technical Flaws to Systemic Discrimination
Under its gazetted Terms of Reference, the international five-member commission—chaired by Belizean jurist and CARICOM High-Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice, Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith—is mandated to determine whether any act or omission, gross negligence, official misconduct, dereliction of duty, systemic deficiency, or institutional failure precipitated the loss of more than 100 lives.
However, George argued that the inquiry must probe deeper socio-economic questions regarding state transportation policy:
- Discriminatory Hinterland Transit: She highlighted that interior residents are routinely forced to rely on dilapidated, unseaworthy state vessels due to the lack of safe, equitable infrastructure connecting riverine administrative regions to the coast.
- Human Rights Violations: The activist called for the commission’s scope to explicitly examine potential violations of Indigenous citizens’ basic constitutional rights to safety and non-discriminatory public services.
Preparations for Public Hearings Underway
While a formal commencement date for oral witness testimony has not yet been announced, the Commission of Inquiry confirmed that preliminary investigative steps are underway:
- On-Site Inspection: The commissioners have completed an in-person physical survey of the maritime accident location.
- Public Hearing Venue: Arrangements have been finalized to hold public hearings at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) in Liliendaal.
- Secretariat Mobilized: A dedicated research, administrative, and logistical secretariat has been established to review subpoenaed marine logs, maintenance filings, and witness applications.
