On Wednesday, 22 July 2026, senior opposition figures in Guyana have called for sweeping independent investigations into a marine safety incident, pushing the ruling administration to meet the country’s binding legal obligations under International Maritime Organisation (IMO) regulations and address longstanding gaps in the nation’s riverine transportation safety system.
Speaking at an opposition news conference hosted at the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party office, Amanza Walton-Desir — leader of the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), a former legal counsel with both the Ministry of Public Works and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, and ex-member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) — laid out a two-pronged plan for accountability. She stressed that Guyana is legally required to conduct a full marine safety investigation equivalent to probes carried out following aviation accidents, and that urgent action is critical to preserve critical evidence required under the IMO’s Safety of Life at Sea Convention.
Walton-Desir argued that the current government lacks the technical capacity and public trust to lead the probe itself, and urged the administration to follow through on its own rhetoric of engaging international partners. “It is my strong recommendation that this government call on our international partners, as the president so loves to say. I think calling on them now is appropriate to lend to Guyana the particular technical expertise that will be needed here,” she said, noting that specialized technical teams from the United States and Canada would likely respond positively to a request for support.
Beyond the mandatory IMO-compliant investigation, Walton-Desir called for a separate public Commission of Inquiry, and insisted that no panel members can have any formal affiliation with the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration. She explained that the opposition and general public do not trust the current government to conduct an impartial probe, and an independent inquiry would rebuild public confidence while laying clear groundwork for any potential criminal proceedings that may emerge from the investigation.
The news conference was billed as a joint opposition event, but the PNCR-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) declined to attend. WIN executive member Tabita Sarabo-Halley declined to comment on the specific reason for APNU’s absence.
Interim Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and former Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson expanded on the opposition’s demands, tying the incident to systemic safety failures enacted by the current PPPC administration. Patterson called for the full maintenance, inspection, dry docking, and certification records for the MV Barima, the vessel at the center of the incident, to be turned over immediately to the independent international investigators.
He outlined a broad set of long-term reforms to fix Guyana’s failing passenger ferry system, including immediate mandatory seaworthiness inspections for all vessels in the country’s passenger fleet to confirm they are fit for the routes they operate; urgent upgrades to outdated docking infrastructure; implementation of a secure, transparent digital ticketing system to curb unregulated travel; and a targeted program to replace aging, unsafe vessels with modern ferries served by upgraded terminal facilities.
“This is not about one vessel. It’s about public safety, accountability, and the rights of citizens in the riverine and hinterland communities to travel with confidence. Our people, the people, deserve answers, and they deserve a transportation system that is safe, and properly managed,” Patterson said.
Patterson also accused the PPPC administration of deliberately dismantling an independent oversight system created by the previous APNU+AFC government to crack down on unrecorded travel and unsafe operational practices. Under the previous system, independent inspectors hired directly by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure verified that passenger counts, cargo loads, fuel stores, and all other operational activities were properly documented and accounted for, addressing a longstanding issue of un-ticketed travel that often occurred with the collusion of vessel staff. Patterson confirmed the PPPC administration removed all of these inspectors after taking office and never replaced the oversight program with an equivalent system. He added that if the inspection regime had remained in place, it could have prevented the unsafe loading practices and operational failures that led to the current incident.