HGP Nightly News – Indigenous people have spent decades relying on an unsafe and poorly regulated transportation system across Guyana’s hinterland and riverain communities, Amerindian Peoples Association Executive Director Jean La Rose has said.
La Rose called for legislation, stronger monitoring and improved transportation facilities on Wednesday during a picketing exercise outside the Office of the President on Vlissengen Road.
About 100 people participated, including relatives of MV Barima victims, civil-society representatives and members of political parties.
Demonstrators carried placards and chanted “Indigenous Lives Matter” and “Edghill and Indar Must Go.”
The APA said the MV Barima disaster was not simply an isolated maritime accident. In its view, it exposed longstanding weaknesses in oversight and the neglect of communities that depend heavily on government-controlled transportation.
“The sinking of the MV Barima was not an unavoidable accident,” the organisation said.
That conclusion remains the APA’s position. The Commission of Inquiry has not yet determined what caused the vessel to capsize or whether negligence or regulatory failures contributed.
La Rose said transportation problems affected Indigenous communities whether they travelled by air, water or road.
“Whether it is by air, we have leaking planes; whether it is by boat, we have leaking boats; whether it is by roads, we have poor roads,” she said.
Indigenous residents in remote areas frequently have fewer alternatives when a vessel, aircraft or road is unsafe or unreliable. Transportation is often their only link to hospitals, schools, markets and public services.
La Rose argued that safety cannot depend on where people live or how much political influence their communities possess.
She called for laws establishing clear standards across Guyana’s transportation network, along with monitoring systems capable of enforcing them.
“We have to have proper systems in place so that when somebody goes on a plane, boat or in a car, they get from point A to point B safely,” she said.
The APA also renewed its call for Public Works Minister Juan Edghill to resign while the MV Barima investigation proceeds.
La Rose argued that his departure was necessary to prevent intimidation and protect the inquiry from any appearance of political or administrative interference.
“So that people are not intimidated, so that people are truly represented and people’s voices are heard,” she said.
Edghill has not been found responsible for the tragedy, and the government has rejected previous calls for his resignation.
The APA also wants the sunken ferry recovered.
La Rose said raising the vessel could preserve physical evidence for investigators and allow families to recover the remains of relatives who may still be trapped inside.
The government has said the wreck’s unstable condition, strong currents and near-zero underwater visibility make salvage extremely difficult and dangerous.
French divers who examined the site similarly warned that the weakened structure might not withstand extensive handling or lifting.
The APA acknowledged the establishment of an international Commission of Inquiry but criticised the government for failing to consult the organisation on the commissioners or terms of reference.
La Rose said that exclusion weakened confidence in the inquiry’s impartiality, particularly given the disaster’s effect on Indigenous families.
The commission will examine the MV Barima’s maintenance, seaworthiness, loading, passenger records, regulatory oversight and emergency response. It will also determine whether negligence, misconduct or institutional failures contributed.
La Rose said the disaster should force changes benefiting every Guyanese, not only Indigenous communities.
“We want answers. We want systems in place to be fixed,” she said. “We don’t want any more lives lost.”
