De surprise inspection

Aug 07, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists

Dem Boys Seh…

(Kaieteur News) – Dem boys does always say that Guyana is a country where law enforcement does have a strange relationship with surprise. Sometimes de law does take a nap for years, then suddenly wake up one morning and decide that everybody should have been ready all along. And this is so especially after a tragedy. Is sad it does have to take such an event for enforcement to tighten.

Anyway, it is good to see that the Coast Guard is now paying attention to vessels travelling in our internal waters and checking whether boats are properly certified and whether the persons operating them have the necessary licences and qualifications. Nobody should quarrel with that.

In fact, if dem boys had anything to do with it, every vessel should be properly inspected, every captain properly certified and every passenger properly protected. When yuh dealing with water, safety should never be treated like something yuh remember only after somebody has fallen overboard.

But there is one small problem.

If the Coast Guard is going to introduce rigorous checks in the Pomeroon, then the boat owners and captains should have been told beforehand.

Because Guyana has a particular tradition when it comes to paperwork: people does know that the paperwork exists, but they does not necessarily know that they supposed to carry it around with them.

A captain may have his certificate safely stored at home. The vessel’s documents may be in he wardrobe drawer. The licence may be in a filing cabinet. And the captain may be somewhere on the Pomeroon wondering why the Coast Guard suddenly interested in documents that nobody previously asked him to produce.

Is that an excuse for not having the required paperwork? No.

Is it reasonable to expect that operators be given notice that enforcement checks will now be conducted? Absolutely.

You cannot spend years telling people, by your actions, that something is not routinely checked and then suddenly behave as though everybody should have anticipated a new enforcement regime. That is not how compliance works.

If the authorities want compliance, they should first communicate the standard, give operators reasonable notice, allow them to regularise their documents and then enforce the law consistently.

Dem boys believe in enforcement. What dem boys don’t believe in is surprise compliance.

Tell people the examination coming, then examine them. Tell captains what documents they must carry, then check them. Tell boat owners what certification is required, then enforce it.

The Coast Guard should enforce the law—and enforce it firmly. But safety and fairness can travel in the same boat.

Talk half. Leff half.

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Coast Guard, Dem Boys Seh, inspection, Law Enforcement

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