OPEN LETTER

OPEN LETTER

To the President, Cabinet, Parliament, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Guyana Police Force, MARAD, and the People of Guyana

We write with urgency, anger, and sorrow over the MV Barima tragedy, a disaster that has left a trail of death, missing persons, shattered families, and a nation demanding answers. This is not a moment for managed optics, selective explanations, or insiders marking their own homework. It is a moment for truth, independence, and full public accountability.

The facts already disclosed are damning enough to justify immediate and uncompromising action. Official and media reports indicate major discrepancies in the manifest, questions about loading and oversight, arrests and criminal probes, and the removal of staff connected to the vessel’s management pending investigation. That alone is enough to show that this matter cannot be credibly handled by anyone whose office, decisions, or silence may be part of the chain of failure.

For that reason, we are demanding therecusal of all public officers who had any direct or indirect involvement, responsibility, supervisory authority, or institutional interest in the MV Barima matter. That includes officers involved in vessel loading, passenger registration, safety enforcement, manifest verification, emergency response, ministerial oversight, or internal administration. A public officer cannot sit in judgment over a system they helped operate, defend, or conceal.

We state this plainly: the public has no obligation to trust a process controlled by persons who may be compromised by proximity, loyalty, career interest, or prior decision-making. If the investigation is to mean anything, then it must be clean at the root, not merely polished at the surface. Independent maritime inquiry standards exist for precisely this reason: to preserve impartiality, prevent interference, and protect public confidence in the final findings.

Accordingly, we call for the following:

1. Immediate recusal of all public officers with any connection to the MV Barima tragedy.
2. Immediate preservation of all evidence, records, manifests, surveillance footage, communications, and response logs.
3. Full independence for any commission of inquiry, with no political or administrative interference.
4. Public disclosure of all findings, recommendations, and disciplinary or criminal referrals.
5. Protection for witnesses, survivors, whistleblowers, and families from intimidation or pressure.
6. A permanent overhaul of maritime safety, inspection, and manifest control systems to prevent a repeat of this catastrophe.
7. Full open cooperation and communications with the Joint Opposition.

This tragedy is not merely an accident to be managed; it is a test of whether the state can tell the truth about itself. If officials implicated by duty or association remain anywhere near the process, then the inquiry risks becoming a shield for the system instead of a search for justice. That would be an insult to the dead, the missing, and every family now waiting for answers.

The people of Guyana deserve more than condolences and press conferences. They deserve accountability without interference, investigation without self-protection, and justice without delay.

Signed,

Concerned Citizens, Civil Society Advocates, and Defenders of Transparency and Accountability

Date: July 23 2026. 

“The Power Of The People is Greater Than The People In Power “