Positions and proposals

Compiled 26 July 2026. This page records what identified parties have said, attributed to each, as reported in the 152 sources. It contains no assessment by this archive of who is correct, and no recommendation. Where two sources report a party's position differently, both figures are given. Where a position rests on a single source, that is stated.

The Government of Guyana

Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill

At an evening press conference on 19 July, Edghill stated that only 35 of the 67 people then rescued appeared on the vessel's manifest, that 116 people had been accounted for through booking systems (100 through the Online Booking System and 16 through Mobile Money Guyana), and that the captain and first engineer had tested positive for cannabis. He said he had personally audited the cargo manifest line by line and obtained an early figure of 260 tonnes, against 268 tonnes manifested and 284 tonnes he described as licensed, with 397 licensed passengers. Asked what had occurred, he answered: "One word… we can't excuse it: mischief. Mischief. And that's why I'm outraged." He also said: "We are not taking anything for granted by anybody's word. We are going back through everything with a fine-tooth comb."

On the division of responsibility he stated that the Transport & Harbours Department is the service provider and the Maritime Administration Department is the regulator, and that the disaster stemmed from operational breaches at ground level rather than regulatory failure.

On the vessel's condition, DPI published a release on 20 July headlined "MV Barima was seaworthy – Min Edghill." Edghill's quoted words are narrower: "There was no report of any kind that suggested the vessel was unseaworthy." On the machinery he stated "There was no engine problem or any mechanical problem" (19–20 July) and, on 22 July, "there was no reported engine troubles from the crew when the boat came in and when the boat left."

On 20 July the management team responsible for loading and dispatch was suspended, announced by Facebook post and described as protecting the integrity of the coming inquiry rather than as a finding of fault. On 22 July Edghill confirmed the state had assumed the risk on an uninsured vessel.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips

Phillips delivered the recovery briefings. On 21 July he stated a complement of 179 including 18 crew, saying he was confident in the figure. On 24 July he reported 73 bodies recovered, 69 identified, 63 released to families and 30 unaccounted for, with three aircraft and fourteen vessels deployed. He stated that delayed Port Kaituma wharf works were the reason the newer MV Ma Lisha could not run the route. Asked about a Mayday call from the captain, he said on 25 July: "We have no such record." On compensation his stated position was one of sequence: "The focus now is not on compensation. The focus is on recovering bodies, financing the burial and funeral rites…"

President Irfaan Ali

Ali was abroad in Canada at the time of the sinking and met families on his return. On 21 July he declared three days of national mourning. On 25 July he announced by video statement that he would, on 26 July, name a five-member Commission of Inquiry, describing it as independent and international and comprising "distinguished local and international experts" in law, marine engineering, maritime safety and disaster investigation, "carefully selected for their independence." The announced scope covers loading, boarding, on-board conditions, seaworthiness, maintenance history, legal compliance, the competence of master and crew, lifesaving arrangements, weather, and a review of the search-and-rescue response, and the commission is to be empowered to find negligence, misconduct, dereliction of duty or institutional failure.

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

Jagdeo restated the toxicology findings on 22 July, saying blood had been drawn from rescued crew and two showed traces of marijuana.

Maritime Administration Department — Capt. Stephen Thomas, Director-General

On 22 July Thomas stated the vessel was "not overloaded," citing the load line, and that age is not determinative because modern thin steel is stronger. He gave the vessel's limits as 394 passengers and 126 tonnes on 21–22 July, and 394 passengers and 120 tonnes on 24–25 July. Asked when and on what basis the original 1938 rating of 150 passengers and 120 tonnes had been raised, he said: "I don't have that information." He also stated that weight distribution would need to be determined by the investigation.

On the mechanics of capsizing he stated that wind and wave action cause a vessel to heel, roll and pitch, that a vessel with positive stability returns upright even when pushed twenty degrees, and that "A captain, who may be compromised by whatever, would not be able to look at what is happening with the waves."

Not present in the corpus

No certificate of survey, load line or passenger capacity for this vessel appears in any of the 152 sources. No official death toll appears — government releases report bodies recovered. No gazetted terms of reference, named commissioners, chair, secretary, reporting deadline or statutory citation for the Commission of Inquiry appears as of 26 July. No MARAD advisory or notice to mariners, no Auditor General finding specific to the Transport & Harbours Department, and no statement by the International Maritime Organization appears.

Parliamentary opposition

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)

Through MP Campbell, APNU's stated position is that the 65-seat National Assembly should craft the commission's terms of reference and that representatives of the International Maritime Organization should be included. Campbell has characterised the President's announcement as "a deliberate ploy to avoid parliamentary debate." On 24 July APNU tabled a Standing Order 12 motion which would empower a commission to summon witnesses, compel documents and refer criminal charges. APNU also called for the parliamentary agenda to be suspended to address the disaster.

Through MP Saiku Andrews, APNU has demanded funeral assistance of no less than G$1m per victim, against reports that some families were offered "a mere $300,000" for funeral expenses. Andrews also cited the March 2026 tender bill of quantities, which required examination of approximately 10,000 square metres of hull plating and frames "with deteriorated sections to be renewed where necessary."

APNU MP Sherod Duncan was arrested on 21 July over an unlicensed drone at Charity, where sources report he had been showing it to Warrao children.

WIN — Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed

Mohamed objects to not being consulted on the commission. His stated demands are that Ministers Edghill and Indar be recused and compelled to testify, that hearings be livestreamed, that the full report be published — noting that prior commission reports were not — and that investigators of a calibre he compared to the FBI or Scotland Yard be appointed. He is also moving a no-confidence motion against Edghill, and states that loading orders come from senior officials rather than from the staff carrying out loading. Sources record him spending four days at sea assisting the recovery. On the death toll he said only that "it looks like over 100." WIN MP Sweatnam has said "over one hundred persons dead," and WIN MP Deon La Cruz reported that survivors had received no welfare contact from any government representative.

Alliance For Change (AFC)

The AFC has proposed constituting the inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act, Chapter 19:03. This is the only statutory citation for the commission that appears anywhere in the corpus.

Joint position of five opposition parties

WIN, APNU, FGM, AFC and VPAC have jointly stated that a Commission of Inquiry is not a substitute for a marine casualty investigation under SOLAS, the IMO Casualty Investigation Code and the IMO Model Regulations on Domestic Ferry Safety, and that both processes should run. They also object to the timing of the announcement, made immediately before the scheduled parliamentary debate, and to the appointment of the Commission's Secretary.

Former minister David Patterson

Patterson has alleged that expert procurement advice was disregarded. This claim is made after the disaster and is not corroborated elsewhere in the corpus.

Civil society organisations

Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA)

The GHRA rejects executive appointment of the commission and has published an alternative design: a parliamentary commission with equal government and opposition membership, chaired by a judicially qualified figure preferably from elsewhere in the Caribbean and endorsed by the other commissioners, with a statutory duty of candour on officials, state-funded counsel for bereaved families, and the chair rather than the executive controlling any claim of national security. It warns that parliamentarians endorsing an inquiry it regards as tainted risk misconduct in public office. Contested membership: Kaieteur reports a seven-member commission; Demerara Waves reports six, appointed equally.

Amerindian Peoples Association (APA)

The APA has called for Minister Edghill's removal, states that North West District passengers had complained for years, and has described the situation as "a tragedy waiting to happen." It frames ferry provision as a question of inequity rather than accident, and has demanded a parallel review of Guyana's entire river and sea transport system with mandatory consultation of Indigenous and riverain communities.

National Toshaos Council (NTC)

The NTC has urged a "comprehensive, transparent, independent review." Sources record that it postponed its conference by one day and that the gathering became a venue for mourning. Village leaders raised schooling for affected children, orphan relief and longer-term economic support.

Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) and Rescue Guyana

Both have called for an IMO-led investigation rather than a domestically appointed commission.

Detentions at the national prayer service

Three women were detained at the government's national prayer service on 22 July. Per the activists' own subsequent statement, charges were dropped and an apology was given, and a constitutional action under Article 147 is being weighed. No police or government statement on the incident appears in the corpus.

Named commentators

Capt. R. E. W. Adams, master mariner, writing in Stabroek News on 2 October 2015, named the MV Barima directly, cited a Kaieteur News inspection describing its deck, winch and generator area as "a mass of junk and rust," and argued that such a vessel would be barred from sea or scrapped elsewhere in the Caribbean. He attributed the condition to missed dry-docking rather than to age.

Janette Bulkan, in letters published by Kaieteur News, has asked the Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre to publish the rescue timeline, and asked at what times the Mayday was relayed to Exxon offshore supply vessels, the Omni Helicopters base at Ogle, the police boat near the Pomeroon mouth, the Coast Guard and MARAD's Ocean Pilot boats. She states the vessel became stuck on a mudbank offshore of Iron Punt, asks whether a Pan Pan urgency call was issued between 19:00 and 23:00, and states that Guyana acceded to SOLAS on 10 December 1997, effective 10 March 1998. These are single-source claims. She also compares the response with Suriname's after the 2018 killing of seventeen fishers.

Haseef Yusuf, in a letter to Guyana Times, argues that age is not the same as unseaworthiness, cites spending between 2021 and 2024, and describes the tragedy as being worked as "a potential ballot winner."

The Guyana Times editorial of 21 July argues for compassion first and accountability afterwards, through an independent inquiry.

The Kaieteur News editorial calls for a livestreamed inquiry and an unredacted preliminary report within ninety days.

Dr. Karen Abrams published "What the oil boom owes the hinterland" in Kaieteur News on 21 June 2026, four weeks before the sinking.

GHK Lall and the anonymous author of the Demerara Waves "Perspective" column of 22 July, headlined "Built for 1939, sunk in 2026: the MV Barima and the contempt we reserve for our own people," both argue that the vessel's retention reflected official disregard for hinterland communities.

Standards and instruments cited by the parties

These are named in the corpus by the parties above. This archive does not assess whether any of them was complied with.

Status of the Commission of Inquiry, 26 July 2026

As of the compilation date the commission had been announced but not constituted. No commissioners were named in any source obtained, and no chair, secretary, reporting deadline, published call for submissions or gazetted terms of reference appears. The President did not cite a statutory basis in the announcement. Parliament had not met. No charges had been filed and no inquest had been opened, in either direction — the corpus contains no reference to charges or an inquest.