(Andrew Donald - Former Captain of the MV Barima speaks)

What this source establishes

A social media post by an opposition MP carrying a long statement attributed to Andrew Donald, described as a former captain of the vessel. It asserts the Barima was single-hulled contrary to SOLAS, lacked hull tanks and an adequate bilge pump, and that wharf personnel and managers controlled loading and sailing times while responsibility fell on the captain. This is the origin of the account HGPTV reported the same day. Nothing in it is verified; HGPTV states the claims are not independently verified and that no individuals are named.

Key claims

• [SOCIAL MEDIA] An opposition Member of Parliament publishes a long statement attributed to Andrew Donald, described as a former Captain of the MV Barima. The archive cannot verify the attribution from this document
• [SINGLE SOURCE] The statement asserts the Barima was a single-hull vessel operating as a passenger vessel contrary to the SOLAS 74 Convention, lacking hull tanks to contain water ingress and an operational bilge pump adequate to control excessive flooding
• [SINGLE SOURCE] It asserts that in the event of a hull breach the crew would have 'about 5-10 minutes' to respond, and that 'The Barima was not supposed to be in service'
• [SINGLE SOURCE] On loading it asserts that wharf personnel and managers 'have the power to load, overload and set sailing time for the vessels' while captains 'just have to sail the vessel', and that when something goes wrong 'they all back peddled and left the Captain in all the mess'
• [ALLEGATION] It alleges departmental victimisation of the author - suspensions, an overturned dismissal, transferrals, and obstruction of his Masters licence - and states 'I blame T&HD and it's subject Ministers'
• [ALLEGATION] It states the three charged men are being made to bear the consequences 'as scapegoats' and that no management personnel were charged
• It poses a list of questions for public examination including why the vessel operated contrary to SOLAS, whether ship certificates can be made available for public scrutiny, on what basis safety certificates were renewed, why a senior captain and crew were not assigned, why port control at the Georgetown Lighthouse did not transmit a distress call, the vessel's freeboard and draft on departure, the date of last inspection, and why the vessel operated past its dry dock schedule
• The image attached to the post carries Facebook's own 'AI-generated content' label and must not be presented as a photograph of any person

This page is a research summary prepared for comment and review. It is not the article. Copyright in the original remains with Facebook — Ganesh Mahipaul MP; the full text is held only in the private research corpus from which this archive was compiled. Follow the link above to read it at the source.