MV Barima - a month later

MV Barima – a month later

Aug 26, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – The night of Saturday, July 18, 2026 and the early hours of the agonising Sunday that followed are now dates etched into the memory and history of Guyanese. The first hours brought the first pieces of news of a tragedy about which none had a clue that it was really one. And as big as it eventually turned out to be. In the rush of events since that poignant July 18, there is so much pain that doesn’t ease. So many questions for which no one can offer the type of convincing answers needed at this time. From several indicators, I gather that the MV Barima disaster is already water under the bridge. Notwithstanding about 100 lives lost, and so much responsibility for this tragedy still sidestepped from top to bottom, the emphasis now is about moving on, and about separating from a time of terrible loss of life.

From one section of official Guyana, there is the sense that the less said about the MV Barima tragedy, the better. Unsaid publicly is ‘nothing can bring them back.’ I will say what I said publicly more than once: negligence and arrogance contributed in so small way to the death of that boat and the departure of unknown scores of lives. Guyanese have lost partners. Families have lost mothers, or fathers, or children. Communities have lost neighbours. A country is in splinters. Still, there is a level of nonchalance, perhaps, even contempt for the dead [and the living], at different levels of official Guyana.

I fear that the MV Barima tragedy will peter out like a death on some lonely country road. Some tears and some handwringing, and before the last mournful hymn could be sung, the seats of prominence are already empty. For sure, there has been a show of sympathy. It seems to be more of a formality. Just get it over and done with; move on to the next juicy moneymaking project. Life has been cheapened. But it shouldn’t be to this extent, and this quickly, if at all. The MV Barima has become a nuisance and hindrance for some at high elevations. Spin works for some of the grieving. In the hearts of others, there is anger and disgust.

If this is this scant degree of interest now, a short month later, then not much that is inspiring should be expected in the days ahead. For example, there is a Commission of Inquiry (COI) in motion. It can’t seem to get off the mark. Early September is currently making the rounds. What will the families that lost loved ones get from this COI? What quality of inquiry will the people of this country get in the midst of a tragedy that has no owner, has no source? The clarity of contributory facts and circumstances, along with names and faces? Or, an exercise in blandness, the veiled, and the guarded? In other words, a whitewash and a coverup? I do not know at this time. But time will reveal. Nothing that is hidden stays hidden forever.

It is a sad state in which this country finds itself. Truth has drowned, and the search for it is cursory. Everyone knows their lines, have their marching orders. No one dares to step out of line. If I have to make a call at this early moment, I anticipate the pro forma COI that stays away from troublesome areas, that avoids rocking any boats (a disturbing but fitting reference), and that delivers what circles around responsibility for the tragedy. Or what leads the families and other Guyanese to believe that they have been taken for a ride. Victimised, yet again. This is how callous the reactions have been from the early hours of July 18. This is what has continued, with mostly official commitment to silence and distance. Leadership crisis amid human disaster.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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ferry disaster, GHK Lall, MV Barima

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