Accountability

Aug 04, 2026 Editorial, News

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(Kaieteur News) – The sinking of the MV Barima has rightly commanded the nation’s full attention. Families are grieving. Questions over safety, accountability and governance demand urgent answers. Yet even as Guyanese mourn, another danger lurks in plain sight. It is the danger that, once again, the latest national tragedy will eclipse the scandals that came before it, allowing those in authority to escape scrutiny simply because the public’s attention has shifted.

That pattern has become one of the defining features of governance in Guyana.

Only days ago, the country was asking searching questions about President Irfaan Ali’s sprawling farm along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway. Citizens wanted to know how such a massive agricultural operation came into being, the source of financing, the ownership arrangements and whether the standards expected of ordinary Guyanese were equally being applied to the head of state. Those questions have not been answered. They have merely disappeared from public discussion.

Before those questions could be pursued, revelations emerged concerning mining concessions reportedly linked to relatives of Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha. Again, serious issues were raised about transparency, conflict of interest and the allocation of the nation’s natural resources. Before the country could receive satisfactory explanations, another crisis arrived.

Then came the Barima disaster.

The horror of that tragedy has understandably consumed the nation. It deserves every ounce of attention. There must be justice for the victims, accountability for those responsible and sweeping reforms to prevent another such catastrophe. But the nation cannot allow one crisis to become the burial ground for another.

That is precisely how governments escape accountability.

The People’s Progressive Party has become remarkably fortunate in this regard. Just as uncomfortable questions begin to gather momentum, another controversy, another emergency or another national event pushes the previous scandal off the front pages. Matters that should have resulted in months of investigation instead vanish into silence.

This places an enormous responsibility on the opposition, the independent media, civil society organisations and ordinary citizens.

The opposition cannot simply react to the issue dominating today’s headlines. It must possess the discipline and institutional memory to keep pursuing unresolved matters until satisfactory answers are obtained. Accountability cannot operate according to the news cycle.

The independent media faces an equally daunting challenge. Journalism is not merely reporting today’s biggest story. It is also returning to yesterday’s unanswered questions. It means refusing to let important investigations die simply because another crisis has emerged. Governments often benefit from public fatigue. Newspapers, broadcasters and online media must ensure that fatigue does not become forgetfulness.

Civil society has perhaps its greatest role yet. Professional bodies, trade unions, religious organisations, transparency advocates and citizens’ groups must resist the temptation to become issue-specific activists. National accountability demands sustained pressure across multiple fronts. One investigation should never cancel another.

Ultimately, every citizen shares this responsibility. Democracies do not remain healthy because governments willingly submit themselves to scrutiny. They remain healthy because citizens insist that they do.

This vigilance has become even more critical because Guyana now faces dangers extending far beyond individual scandals.

Only recently, Bloomberg warned that an oil curse hangs over Guyana because of weak governance, inadequate oversight and poor management of the petroleum sector. History is littered with resource-rich countries that became poorer in governance even as they became richer in natural wealth. Corruption flourished. Institutions weakened. Political patronage deepened. Citizens were left with promises while elites accumulated fortunes.

There is already reason for concern. Billions of United States dollars have flowed through Guyana’s oil industry, yet fundamental questions continue to arise over contract management, cost recovery, transparency and whether the nation is receiving fair value for its resources.

The mining sector tells an equally troubling story. Foreign companies have repeatedly acquired exploration rights over Guyanese gold deposits, only to flip those assets for enormous profits on international markets. Billions have changed hands abroad while Guyana receives comparatively little benefit.

If these issues disappear beneath successive headlines, the country risks far more than a few unanswered questions. It risks institutionalising a culture where accountability is temporary, scrutiny is fleeting and governments simply wait for the next distraction. The Barima tragedy demands justice. But justice for Barima must not come at the expense of accountability elsewhere.

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• accountability, Editorial, MV Barima

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