Nearly three months after the MV Barima capsized off the Essequibo Coast, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the disaster will begin oral hearings on Wednesday, October 14, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. More than 100 witnesses are expected to testify. Many families of the dead and missing say they still have little faith that they will get answers.
The state-owned ferry, run by the Transport and Harbours Department, left Georgetown at about 3:20 p.m. on July 18, 2026, bound for Port Kaituma. Officials say it was carrying about 179 passengers and crew, far more than the 116 passengers and 16 crew on its official manifest. The Air Traffic Control Centre at Timehri received a distress signal at 10:43 p.m. According to the Prime Minister’s own timeline to the National Assembly, the first five survivors were not rescued until 2:27 a.m., about three and a half hours later. Seventy-six people survived. More than 70 died, and dozens remain unaccounted for. It is the worst maritime disaster in Guyana’s history.
President Dr. Irfaan Ali set up the Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. Its five members are all from outside Guyana:
- Chairman Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith of Belize, CARICOM High-Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice
- Dr. Andrzej Jasionowski of Poland, a naval architect and marine engineer
- Captain Hamada Fouda of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica
- Attorney-at-Law Nyree Dawn Alfonso of Trinidad and Tobago, a specialist in admiralty and maritime law
- Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Hayden Pritchard of Trinidad and Tobago
The Commission’s mandate is broad. It must establish the facts and the sequence of events, and determine the immediate, contributing and systemic causes. It must also assess compliance with legal and safety requirements, review the search, rescue and recovery effort, recommend accountability where warranted, and propose maritime safety reforms. Its terms say the inquiry extends beyond a safety investigation to “public accountability, institutional performance and reform.” The President pledged the “administrative, technical, financial and logistical support necessary” for its work.
No findings have been made yet. The Commission was first given two months, but its Secretary, Javed Shadick, said this will be extended. Justice Smith says the work is expected to take about six months, after which the report goes to the President.
There is already a legal complication. The captain, Kevin Price, chief mate Rondell Dwayne Roberts and goods superintendent Delon Granderson have been charged with murder. Justice Smith said the Commission “definitely will want to hear from them.” If their lawyers advise them not to speak, he said, “it is beyond the powers of this Commission of Inquiry to do anything about that.” The timing invites hard questions. Charging the very crew whose testimony matters most could be seen by many as a deliberate move to undermine the Commission’s ability to get to the truth.
For the families, the biggest grievance is the wreck itself, which still lies on the seabed. Relatives have protested outside the Office of the President for weeks. “We still have loved ones that never came home,” one relative said. At a meeting with the commissioners on October 7, families learned for the first time that BK International had been chosen to salvage the vessel. The tender board later confirmed the contract was awarded on a “no cure, no pay” basis. Several relatives openly expressed no confidence in the inquiry. So did the Leader of the PNCR.
This publication believes the families are right to insist that the truth, and their loved ones, cannot be left at the bottom of the sea. A credible inquiry needs the evidence on that boat. Guyana owes these families more than another report that gathers dust. It owes them answers, accountability and real reform.
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