Ram says Ali’s COI dodges key issues

Jul 28, 2026 News

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…questions why 87-year-old MV Barima was still sailing

(Kaieteur News) – Chartered Accountant and attorney Christopher Ram has questioned the government’s Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the MV Barima disaster, arguing that while President Irfaan Ali has since named a five-member panel, the probe as constituted fails to address the most critical question of all: why an 87-year-old ferry was still operating when a replacement vessel had already arrived in Guyana.

In an open letter addressed to President Ali before the commissioners were announced, Ram contended that the inquiry’s Terms of Reference concentrate almost exclusively on what happened on the night of July 18, while sidestepping the government’s policy decisions leading up to the tragedy.

“Your commission will inquire exhaustively into a voyage without asking why that voyage was made in that vessel at all,” Ram wrote.

According to Ram, the newly acquired MV Kalliopi N arrived in Guyana in May and had been designated by Public Works Minister Juan Edghill for the Region One route. Yet, he noted, the vessel remained tied up awaiting a commissioning ceremony while the ageing MV Barima, built in 1939, continued transporting passengers to Port Kaituma, Morawhanna, Kumaka and Mabaruma.

Ram said those were not accidents of circumstance but decisions made by identifiable officials.

“None of this was misfortune. These were decisions… Nothing in your Terms of Reference permits the commission to examine them,” he argued.

He also questioned the fate of the MV Ma Lisha, the US$12.7 million ferry commissioned in 2023, asking why it never replaced the Barima on the North West route if that had been its intended purpose.

Ram maintained that any credible inquiry must examine whether Government officials acted negligently by leaving the ageing ferry in service despite having newer vessels available.

The accountant further argued that the Commission should have been established under Part XVIII of the Shipping Act, which provides for a statutory marine investigation chaired by a sitting judge or magistrate with powers to compel evidence and suspend or revoke maritime certificates where negligence is found.

Instead, he questioned the legal basis under which the Commission has been constituted and urged that its Terms of Reference be expanded to include Government decision-making, vessel deployment and the condition of the Barima before its final voyage.

Ram also called for Public Works Minister Juan Edghill and the Director General of the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) to step aside while the inquiry is underway and to testify before the Commission.

He further urged President Ali to ensure that all documents relating to the Barima, including maintenance records, surveys, manifests, inspection reports and files concerning the Kalliopi N and Ma Lisha, are immediately secured to prevent any alteration or destruction.

With conflicting official accounts already emerging over the number of persons aboard the vessel, Ram warned that those records are not only critical to the inquiry but could also form key evidence in future civil lawsuits by grieving families.

Ram contrasted the two ferries.

“A new ship sat at her moorings waiting for you. In its stead, an old one sailed without you and did not come back, with more than one hundred innocent and unsuspecting lives lost,” he wrote.

Ram concluded by cautioning against another inquiry whose findings never see the light of day or whose conclusions stop short of holding senior officials accountable. “This one must serve the dead and not you, your Administration or your party,” he said.

One week after the MV Barima capsized en route to Region One leaving 73 dead and at least 30 still missing, President Ali on Sunday named a five-member Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the capsizing and sinking of the vessel.

In a video statement on Sunday, the head-of-state named Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith of Belize to serve as chair of the COI.  Smith previously served as a member of the COI team that investigated the 2nd March, 2020 general elections. He serves as a CARICOM High-Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice and an Ad-Hoc Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.

Other members are: Dr. Andrzej Jasionowski of Poland, Naval Architect and Marine Engineer, who has advised on investigations into several major maritime disasters; Captain Hamada Fouda, Senior Maritime Surveyor and Compliance Auditor with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica; Nyree Dawn Alfonso of Trinidad and Tobago, attorney with expertise in Admirality and Maritime Law and Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Hayden A. Pritchard of Trinidad and Tobago, a distinguished professional with decades of experience in maritime operations and maritime security.

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• Christopher Ram, key issues, MV Barima, President Ali

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