GPA slams police over repeated media blackouts in MV Barima tragedy

Jul 23, 2026 News

---

(Kaieteur News) – Guyana Press Association’s (GPA) President Iva Wharton has sharply criticised what she says is a pattern of journalists being blocked from properly covering the aftermath of the M.V. Barima sinking, warning that restricting the press only fuels the very misinformation authorities claim to be fighting.

The vessel sank off the Essequibo Coast on the night of Saturday, 18^th July, with more than 150 passengers aboard, setting off a large-scale search, rescue and recovery operation that is still ongoing.

While emergency responders have rightly been the priority, independent journalists have been repeatedly turned away, monitored and cut off from sources — even when survivors and grieving families wanted to speak to them.

A pattern of restrictions

The incidents began Sunday morning, when a Kaieteur News journalist arrived at the Umana Yana to obtain accurate information about what transpired.

“On Sunday 19^th July, I arrived at the Umana Yana, with the intentions of providing accurate, compassionate and balanced coverage of the scenes post the MV Barima’s tragic capsizing. To my absolute horror, as I entered the Umana Yana, there comes Junior Minister Kwame McCoy coming to tell me the families were complaining about press there, mind you I didn’t have any cameras or anything like that, and state aligned media were allowed in,” Khadidja Ba recalled.

Ba said after she refused, Minister McCoy and his assistant Derwayne Wills who was standing behind him “summoned a brown clothes police woman and a plain clothes police officer and told them to remove me from the premises. Not just from the Umana Yana, but from the yard.”

“I made the decision then to not cause a scene so as to further distress the families. Funnily enough, the families subsequently came outside and spoke to us at the very low fence and they even said ‘what is the point of the press then? Some people wouldn’t know about this but would know after seeing Kaieteur News coverage’”, Ba said.

Further, the journalist opined that “All in all, this is just another instance where the government, especially this one, has showcased its utter disregard for the independent media”.

On Sunday too, another journalist was ordered off the grounds of Oscar Joseph Hospital in Charity by police — despite survivors and relatives having voluntarily agreed to share their accounts.

The following afternoon, when President Irfaan Ali visited grieving families at the Charity Waterfront, the same reporter was again escorted away by officers, cutting off independent coverage of the President’s meeting with relatives.

Journalists also say they have been unable to independently verify the death toll, having been denied access to health facilities and the Onderneeming Mortuary, both under tight police security. As of Wednesday afternoon, security personnel at the Essequibo Technical Institute (ETI) shelter reportedly told reporters they had orders not to allow any contact between the media and survivors staying there.

“We are not there to fight”

Wharton said the blackouts strike directly at the media’s ability to give the public verified information during a national tragedy.

“It is concerning. We want to be able to tell these stories, and we want to tell them accurately. The only way we can do that is if we have access,” she said.

She rejected any suggestion that reporters have been disrespectful of victims or their families.

“We are not there to fight with the police or the government. The stories of the survivors have to be documented, and it is in no one’s best interest to prevent survivors from sharing their experiences. It is through those stories that we are able to ask important questions,” Wharton said, adding that false narratives about the disaster are already spreading online — which she says makes independent verification more urgent, not less.

She also acknowledged the toll the assignment has taken on reporters, particularly younger journalists facing a disaster of this scale for the first time, and appealed for officers to treat media workers with basic professional courtesy.

Drones seized, boats shadowed, journalists photographed

Former GPA President Nazima Raghubir described an escalating clampdown. Beyond the barriers restricting access around Charity, Essequibo Coast she said police have photographed media workers in the field, confiscated a drone being used for aerial coverage, and had a Guyana Defence Force vessel shadow a boat carrying journalists during search operations on Wednesday. She also said families with missing relatives have been actively discouraged from speaking to reporters.

Raghubir argued that the media has been filling a real gap for anxious families still shuttling between Charity and Suddie on the Essequibo Coast and the Umana Yana in Georgetown in search of answers.

“The press has been a great help to the public, especially at a time when many people are struggling to get information about their loved ones,” she said. “Sometimes engagement with the media helps.”

She was blunt about the irony of officials citing misinformation as a justification for restricting reporters. “It doesn’t help when media operators have their drones seized and are threatened over misinformation when much of the misinformation is coming from official sources. We expect the space to do our work,” she said.

No explanation from authorities

Neither the Guyana Police Force nor any other authority has publicly explained the basis for the restrictions.

As investigations into the sinking continue, media groups are pressing for a working arrangement that allows reasonable, respectful access — one that protects rescue operations and victims’ privacy without shutting the press out of a story the public has every right to follow.

---

• GPA, media blackouts, MV Barima, tragedy

---