MV Barima COI in ICU

Oct 11, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard truths…

(Kaieteur News) – I want to give the MV Barima Commission of Inquiry (COI) the space of grace. How can I (any Guyanese)? Check its origins. Revisit some of its personnel. Chair Smith said that the COI will follow the evidence to hell and back. It’s hoped that he and his group have asbestos suits ready, make it back. Many of the people on the MV Barima had no such luxury. The chair said that responsibility will be placed wherever it has to be. I caution this big man from a small place: that would be biting the hand that feeds him and team.

The COI had a preview of how the people who lost family members think. Their reaction to the salvage award speaks volumes. Their level of trust in Guyana’s top leader is so nonexistent that the COI members had to have wondered if there was ever any trust at all, and what happened for trust to deteriorate to such a low gutter. One COI member made some reference intended to appease about politics and about having nothing to do with Guyana’s embittering, biting, polarizing politics. A regular basket case is this country (and those who exploit it). Outsiders should develop an appreciation of why trust is where it is, and who is responsible. Guyana is the stuff of comic books and horror stories. Look at how quickly the foreigners catch on and play the game. Those talking about Guyana’s politics are products of Guyana’s politics. If there’s that inconsistency, then what credibility in the Barima COI?

In the absence of the dependable, there is this patchwork COI pitchforked into action. The COI itself is rather spotted, almost like a polka-dotted shirt that fades after the first washing. It took the longest while to get into first gear, and the volume of smoke spewed from its exhaust systems has left impacted and observant Guyana choking on the fumes. The COI limped its way to the salvage award announcement. What a process! What a production! What a powerful reaction! What’s the objective here? To bring up a boat, or to break apart a boat? It is said that dead men tell no tales (something very familiar to PPP Govts). Until now, few Guyanese have said a word about what a death boat could reveal when its corpse is not treated to the most delicate handlings.

People demanding truth and justice want the boat raised from the depths. Some people who never had any use for truth and justice want the boat to grow old with age, then sink deeper into the muck and mud. All that the unaccounted-for bodies of Guyanese made into sacrificial victims may be good for is DNA identification and tracking purposes. I hope that the COI members have copper-plated stomachs. Because if the boat and the bodies reach the surface in one piece, then the COI members may end up losing pieces of their own gastrointestinal track. Either coming upwards and forward, or going downwards and outward. For they will have to witness the next local circus: postmortems, another indignity on what’s left of their bodies, and the assaults on their grieving family members. This is going on the assumption that there’s a wholly successful boat salvage. For the nitpickers in need of a definition: a successful MV Barima salvage incorporates the boat coming up as it went down, with all that was inside of its holds still inside.

Finally, the president promised that there will be an international COI. There’s one, but with a difference. The sole differentiator in the COI’s membership is that all were born in countries other than Guyana. In other comparisons and extrapolations, it is as if they are Guyanese. Already, members are speaking the language. Already, they may know how matters like the MV Barima tragedy are conducted around here. Already, they talk like local pols. Now, they must walk the talk.

(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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COI, GHK Lall, ICU, MV Barima

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