Opposition mobilises lawyers, warns families against signing compensation documents in MV Barima tragedy

Jul 30, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed on Wednesday said he plans to assemble a legal team to advise families of those who lost their lives in the MV Barima tragedy, while warning them against signing any compensation documents without first seeking legal guidance.

Speaking to reporters during a protest outside the Office of the President on Vlissengen Road, organised by the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Mohamed accused the government of neglecting poor citizens noting that the vessel should have been condemned years ago.

“I will have a legal team to represent them to ensure that they are handsomely compensated, not like the Mahdia dorm fire where they got that dishonorable Minister Keoma coerced the indigenous people to accept $2 and $3 million. No amount of money can bring back life, but at the end of the day, they must be handsomely compensated,” he said.

Mohamed said he recently met with several survivors and families of the deceased and found that they had received no immediate solutions or commitments from the authorities on the way forward.

“I told them do not sign any paperwork. Make sure you know what you’re signing. Consult me… But I told the family of the crew: if we have to go to the CCJ for them to get justice, we will go,” he added.

Responding to comments by Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips that families would be consulted on whether the vessel should be salvaged or the site transformed into a memorial, Mohamed said the government had reasons for wanting the vessel to remain on the seabed.

“Because they know a lot of kids [were] in that vessel. Based on the reports we’re hearing from families; they don’t want to salvage the vessel… Most of the families I talked to, a lot of the families… Yesterday a family called me and said they met with the president and they told him no memorial site; even if it’s the bones, they want the bones,” he said.

The opposition leader further claimed that the government intends to allow the vessel to deteriorate before recovering it.

“They want the vessel to damage under there because every day the current and the high winds are damaging it more and more. So, when the vessel is damaged, they’re going to salvage it as a wreck, not as one complete vessel. Then you can’t get the evidence for the COI. It makes no sense having a COI without the vessel being floated.”

Estimating the MV Barima’s weight at about 500 tonnes, Mohamed said larger vessels have been successfully salvaged around the world. He maintained that leaving the vessel on the seabed was deliberate and would prevent accountability.

Thanking the APA for organising the peaceful demonstration, Mohamed announced plans to stage peaceful protests across all 10 administrative regions.

“I would like to ask the ministers and the government officials if they will allow their families to travel on that vessel. What you don’t like for yourself, you must not like for others. That is leadership,” he said.

Mohamed also criticised the purchase of a new vessel earlier this year, claiming it remains unused and is allegedly being used for entertainment purposes, while hinterland residents continue to endure lengthy journeys on aging vessels.

Meanwhile, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Sherod Duncan said responsibility for the tragedy extends to the highest levels of government and should begin with the ministers responsible.

“These boats [are] being overloaded by passengers and cargo as well, and that’s why we’re seeing out here today that both Edghill and Indar should go,” Duncan said.

APNU MP Juretha Fernandes echoed those sentiments, saying protesters were standing in solidarity with the APA and demanding the removal of the two ministers.

“They’re more interested in holding on to power than they are interested in giving accountability to the over 100 lives that were lost under their watch. I want to remind the public that this tragedy was avoidable, and the persons at the helm were the ministers in question, Edghill and Indar,” she said.

We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) MP Vishnu Panday also criticised remarks by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who said, “We have a captain, we have engineers, and we have a crew, and nowhere on the planet Earth, those people would not have been held responsible.”

Panday argued that governments are responsible for ensuring systems function properly and cannot avoid accountability by placing blame solely on the vessel’s crew.

“They are responsible to marshal the affairs of the country and to uphold systems in the country, and if they were doing their work, then the systems would have been maintained and managed, preventing the captain and crew allegedly being under the influence of alcohol and drugs, which I believe is what they’re holding on to,” he said.

WIN MP Duarte Hetsberger described the MV Barima disaster as a national tragedy that goes beyond politics.

“We have seen the impact it has across the spectrum. People from all walks of life, from Region One right through to Region 10, are affected by this issue. We need justice, and we need support for the victims, the survivors, and the relatives of the deceased,” he said.

He also questioned the government’s position on not salvaging the vessel.

“It’s impossible for you to come to the Guyanese people and tell them you cannot salvage that boat that is less than 50 feet below water because you don’t want the truth to be revealed. We are here today calling for the immediate resignation or dismissal of the minister responsible, Juan Edghill.”

Former Minister of Public Telecommunications and Alliance For Change (AFC) member Cathy Hughes said she joined the protest because of the impact the tragedy had on her.

Hughes criticised the administration, which she said has governed Guyana for most of the past three decades, arguing that insufficient action has been taken to address safety concerns and overloading practices.

“We cannot continue to just say this is good and accept it. The fact that the poorest of the poor in this country have to have their children lie on the floor of a boat, and then when it’s turning over, boxes are falling on top of them because we don’t even package the cargo in a place where people could be safe in the event of an emergency,” she said.

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• Azruddin Mohamed, compensation documents, MV Barima tragedy

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