On April 23, the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Tourism of Suriname announced that a new Supervisory Board (Raad van Commissarissen, RvC) will be officially installed at the Canawaima Management Company (CMC) on the same day, according to Minister Raymond Landveld.
CMC operates the critical ferry connection between Suriname’s South Drain and neighboring Guyana, a key transit link for cross-border travel and trade between the two South American nations. The major leadership reshuffle comes on the heels of public, serious allegations of conflict of interest that rocked the outgoing supervisory body.
Per local media outlet Starnieuws’ verified sources, the new board will be led by Naraindeth Seopershad as president-commissioner, with Prakash Raghoebiren and Fandi Bogor joining as sitting members. The three members of the previous board – chair Richenel Vrieze, Abdul Madhar, and Edgar van Genderen – have been notified of the change, though their formal resignation process has not yet been fully completed.
The decision to replace the entire supervisory board was reached following closed consultations between Minister Landveld and Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons. The process accelerated dramatically after the CMC workers’ union, headed by Dayanand Dwarka, formally withdrew its confidence in the old board’s leadership.
The union had initially planned to launch industrial action to push for leadership changes, but ultimately called off the protests after reaching an agreement with Minister Landveld. The union made the concession to avoid disrupting ferry services, which would have harmed passengers relying on the cross-border connection. In return, Landveld committed to rapid intervention to address the union’s concerns – a promise that has now resulted in the full replacement of the supervisory board.
As of the announcement, outgoing board members have not yet received a formal hearing from the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Tourism (TCT) or the President’s Cabinet, nor have they been placed on administrative leave pending the finalization of the transition.