Grief, protests, and a G$1.4B abandoned wharf

Aug 24, 2026 News

---

…Duncan demands Edghill’s resignation

(Kaieteur News) – More than a month after the fatal MV Barima disaster, grieving families across Guyana are still weeping daily for lost loved ones, left with empty hands and hollow answers while Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill and the central government continue to act as business as usual.

Weekly public protests continue to rage, echoing a singular, relentless demand across the country: Edghill must go. Against this backdrop of raw public grief and state apathy, opposition shadow public works minister Sherod Duncan returned on Sunday, August 23, to the site of the G$1.4 billion Port Kaituma stelling, revealing that the facility remains at a complete standstill, in what can only be described as a monument to ministerial failure that, along with the high airfare travel cost, directly forced hinterland residents onto an unsafe, aging vessel.

“The unfinished Stelling cannot now be separated from the tragedy of July 18, 2026,” Duncan declared following a site inspection alongside former Member of Parliament Ronald Cox.

He said residents at Port Kaituma confirm there has been zero meaningful movement at the site for over a year. Kaieteur News visited the site in July and confirmed no active works being done. The Stelling was built to facilitate the berthing of the government’s US$12.7 million Indian-built vessel, the MV Ma Lisha, which arrived in Guyana in April 2023 to replace the dilapidated MV Barima. Yet, over three years later, structural collapse at the dock has prevented the MV Ma Lisha from ever making its maiden voyage to Region One, leaving citizens trapped relying on an 87-year-old boat.

“Had Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill ensured proper planning, competent engineering, rigorous supervision and timely completion of this project, that dependence could have ended before tragedy struck,” Duncan stressed. “That connection demands investigation and accountability at the highest level of the ministry.”

While families mourn, Public Works Minister Juan Edghill has admitted to massive structural defects. Addressing the National Toshaos Council (NTC) Conference, Edghill conceded that the new wharf developed severe structural failures after the surrounding soil shifted, forcing contractors to break out and rebuild an entire section. Edghill further sparked outrage by claiming that prior to the tragedy, the MV Barima was the “boat of choice” for residents and business people, a statement critics slammed as utterly tone-deaf given that commuters had no other operational mode of transport.

Alliance For Change (AFC) acting leader, David Patterson joined the call for accountability, framing the incomplete G$1.4 billion infrastructure project as a textbook display of state-funded incompetence. “Port Kaituma wharf is a clear example of mismanagement,” Patterson stated during a joint Opposition press conference. “The wharf project was so poorly designed that it required major corrective works. Questions remain about whether adequate preliminary studies were conducted and whether taxpayers were forced to bear additional costs because of these design flaws.” Patterson pointed out that the project’s completion deadlines repeatedly shifted, from late 2023 to April 2024, the third quarter of 2024, and now dragging indefinitely into 2026, as severe warning signs regarding site suitability, soil movement, pile depths, and retaining-wall design were ignored.

While contractor International Import and Supplies and consultant CEMCO Inc. face scrutiny, Duncan made it clear that final liability rests directly on the minister’s desk. “Minister Edghill cannot contract out ministerial responsibility,” Duncan insisted. “His Ministry commissioned this project, supervised the expenditure of approximately G$1.4 billion in taxpayers’ money, received the reports and warnings, and was responsible for ensuring that critical public infrastructure was delivered safely and on time.”

Duncan is demanding the immediate public disclosure of all engineering and geotechnical reports, supervision records, contract variations, and payments related to the Port Kaituma wharf. Concurrently, Patterson outlined demands for an independent examination of all maintenance, dry-docking, and certification records for the MV Barima, alongside a fleet-wide seaworthiness inspection of every state-passenger vessel. As weekly demonstrations grow outside office of the president, Duncan warned that the administration can no longer sweep state negligence under the rug. “This is no longer merely the story of another delayed government project,” Duncan stated. “It is about whether years of failed supervision left an aging vessel in service when safer arrangements should already have been available. Ministerial responsibility must mean something. For the families who lost loved ones, for the people of Port Kaituma and for taxpayers across Guyana, we reiterate our call: Edghill must go.”

---

• abandoned wharf, Edghill's resignation, Grief, MV Barima, Port Kaituma wharf, Protests

---