HGP Nightly News – A Commission of Inquiry cannot substitute for the independent marine safety investigation required after the MV Barima disaster, Forward Guyana Movement Leader Amanza Walton-Desir has argued.
Speaking during a joint press conference by opposition parties, Walton-Desir called on the government to state precisely which legal process it has activated, under what authority it is proceeding and who will lead the investigation.
Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips has repeatedly said the government will establish a Commission of Inquiry into the capsizing. Walton-Desir said that announcement, by itself, leaves important legal questions unanswered.
“Which Commission of Inquiry?” she asked.
She questioned whether the government intends to convene an inquiry under Guyana’s Commissions of Inquiry Act, initiate a formal process under the Guyana Shipping Act or conduct a marine safety investigation under the International Maritime Organization’s Casualty Investigation Code.
“These are not interchangeable terms,” Walton-Desir said. “They are very distinct, separate legal processes with different purposes, different powers and different legal consequences.”
According to her interpretation, the IMO framework requires Guyana to conduct an independent safety investigation following a very serious marine casualty. That investigation would focus on establishing what happened, identifying the conditions that allowed it to happen and recommending measures to prevent another disaster.
It would not be intended primarily to assign criminal or disciplinary blame.
Walton-Desir said a Commission of Inquiry could consider broader issues of public administration, responsibility and culpability, but could not replace the technical marine investigation.
The government has not yet publicly provided the proposed inquiry’s terms of reference, membership or complete legal framework. Walton-Desir demanded that those details be disclosed without delay.
She warned that waiting for a Commission of Inquiry to be assembled could place important evidence at risk.
“Evidence is lost, memories fade, and opportunities to establish facts disappear,” she said.
A marine safety investigation should begin immediately, she argued, examining the vessel’s maintenance history, surveys, certification, inspections, operational management and regulatory oversight. Investigators should also review the decisions and actions preceding the capsizing.
The MV Barima was owned and operated by the state. That creates an immediate question of independence, Walton-Desir said, because the investigation may have to scrutinise government agencies responsible for operating, inspecting, certifying and regulating the vessel.
“I certainly do not have any confidence in the government to investigate itself,” she declared.
Her distrust is a political position, but the underlying conflict she identified will likely influence public confidence in the inquiry. If state officials and agencies are among the subjects being examined, the investigators must be sufficiently independent to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Walton-Desir said Guyanese had heard repeated promises of thorough investigations after previous tragedies, only to wait years for conclusions or meaningful reforms.
“We are tired of hearing that no stone will be left unturned,” she said.
She also proposed the establishment of a permanent, independent transportation safety investigation board through legislation.
Such an institution could investigate serious accidents across Guyana’s aviation, maritime and, eventually, road, bridge and rail systems. It would maintain trained investigators and specialist expertise rather than assembling temporary teams after each disaster.
Walton-Desir pointed to the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada as examples of permanent agencies dedicated to determining causes and making safety recommendations.
Under her proposal, Guyana’s existing accident-investigation bodies could be consolidated into a single institution with statutory authority to secure accident sites, preserve evidence, obtain maintenance and operational records, conduct technical examinations and publish independent recommendations.
The agency could be activated immediately after a major accident without waiting for Cabinet or another authority to establish an ad hoc inquiry.
Walton-Desir said she first advanced a similar recommendation while working at the then Ministry of Public Works during the mid-2000s.
Guyana’s economy and transportation network have expanded sharply, she observed, but its capacity to regulate those systems and investigate failures has not kept pace.
“We have outgrown our institutional arrangements,” she said.
Walton-Desir began her presentation by offering condolences to grieving relatives, support to survivors and recognition to members of the Coast Guard, Defence Force, Transport and Harbours Department, fisherfolk and private volunteers involved in the recovery.
Nothing should distract from the human loss, she said. But mourning alone is insufficient.
“Our responsibility as legislators is not just to mourn, but to ensure that this never happens again.”
For Walton-Desir, that begins with an investigation independent enough to command trust, technically capable of determining why the ferry capsized and swift enough to preserve evidence before it disappears.
