Transparency Int’l Guyana demands IMO probe of MV Barima tragedy

Jul 24, 2026 News

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…says Edghill, Indar, MARAD leadership should step down

(Kaieteur News) – Transparency International Guyana Inc. (TIGI) is demanding an independent probe by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) into the MV Barima tragedy.

The 87-year-old ferry capsized on Saturday night during its voyage to Port Kaituma, Region One with close to 200 passengers and crew members.

In a statement on Thursday, the watchdog institution first flagged the discrepancy in reports surrounding the number of passengers on board the vessel.  Initial reports placed 116 passengers and 17 crew aboard; that figure was later revised upward to 179 after officials reviewed boarding footage.

Consequently, Executive Member of TIGI, Frederick Collins has made it clear that Guyanese have no appetite for another domestic inquiry which he believes is likely to collapse into a “circus maximus.”

According to TIGI, “The reference is not abstract. In May 2023, 20 children, most of them Indigenous girls, burned to death in the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire. A Presidential Commission of Inquiry followed. Three years later, families remain in the High Court, alleging the State pressured them into grossly inadequate settlements without independent legal advice, then fought to have their claims struck out entirely.”

Collins is adamant that this domestic process did not end in justice but in the state litigating against grieving families for years. He argued, “No one is prepared to watch that repeat.”

To this end, TIGI has called for an independent, impartial and objective international investigation led by the IMO and staffed by global maritime experts with no institutional stake in the outcome, instead of a domestic Commission of Inquiry under government control.

TIGI said international civil society organisations with an established presence in Guyana should be appointed as members of the Commission rather than just observers.

Importantly, the watchdog body called for the immediate recusal of Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar, and the senior management team of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD). The institute demanded, “If President Ali is sincere about the transparency and accountability, he has personally promised the families of the deceased, this is the minimum test of that sincerity, not a discretionary courtesy to ministers he appointed.”

The body urged that there be no repeat of the Madhia model-type of inquiry, insisting that the public will not accept another process that produces a report while the state simultaneously fights its own citizens in court for years afterward.

Furthermore, TIGI demanded full public accounting of the “manifest fraud” where dozens of souls are still unaccounted for. The body said the responsible parties must be identified with clear guidelines as to what enforcement actions will follow.

Arrest of Duncan

Notably, TIGI raised concerns over the arrest of Opposition Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan on Tuesday at Charity, Essequibo, while operating a drone near the area where families are gathered awaiting news of loved ones.

The Institute explained, “Duncan has reportedly said he was filming recovery vessels offshore, as he had done on prior days, when a police officer instructed him to stop; two senior officers then told him they were acting on instructions. The 592 Guardian has not independently verified this account and will update as it is confirmed. If accurate, it raises a legitimate question the government owes the public an answer to: why restrict press and public documentation at a site the state says it is handling with full transparency?”

TIGI argued that Guyana’s institutions have exhausted the public’s trust. It noted that the matter is no longer a mere question of domestic accountability but also requires the attention and assistance of the international community so that families can get truth and justice without suing the state.

Contradictions

The transparency institute pointed out that Minister Indar who, until September 2025, served as Minister within the Ministry of Public Works with shared responsibility for the Transport and Harbours Department, first stated categorically that the MV Barima was not overloaded, then reversed himself days later, alleging criminal conduct.

As such, the institute said, “A sitting minister cannot publicly prejudge the very facts an independent investigation exists to determine and then oversee that same investigation. The same conflict applies to Minister Edghill and to MARAD’s own leadership, who cannot credibly investigate their own regulatory failures.”

Moreover, it added, “Prime Minister Mark Phillips’s response, when asked directly whether Edghill should go, was that he “hears the noise,” while pointing to President Ali, who was out of the country in Canada when the disaster struck. That is not leadership. It is the delegation of accountability to an absent principal.”

The body was clear that safe transportation is not a privilege but a fundamental right that every person in Guyana deserves, regardless of whether they travel by road, air or river.

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• IMO probe, MARAD, MV Barima tragedy, TIGI, Transparency

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