President swears in panel to investigate MV Barima disaster

What this source establishes

"The five-member panel was appointed by the President under the Commissions of Inquiry Act." Kiskadee reported the same statutory basis on 27 July; it is now corroborated by DPI. "The President also mentioned that the commissioners would determine their own procedures and conduct the inquiry independently" — the only report in the corpus that the Commission sets its own procedure. "Justice Smith, who was not yet in Guyana, took his oath virtually, while the other commissioners were sworn in in person."

Key claims

• "The five-member panel was appointed by the President under the Commissions of Inquiry Act." Kiskadee reported the same statutory basis on 27 July; it is now corroborated by DPI.
• [SINGLE SOURCE] "The President also mentioned that the commissioners would determine their own procedures and conduct the inquiry independently" — the only report in the corpus that the Commission sets its own procedure.
• "Justice Smith, who was not yet in Guyana, took his oath virtually, while the other commissioners were sworn in in person."
• Ali: "Our nation deserves a full, fair and impartial account of what occurred, why it occurred, and what must be done to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated."
• Terms of reference are itemised: "examining the vessel's loading, passenger boarding procedures, seaworthiness, maintenance history, crew competence, compliance with maritime regulations and the effectiveness of the emergency response, while determining whether negligence, misconduct, dereliction of duty or institutional failures contributed to the tragedy."
• Timestamped 1:40 PM GMT-4, 30 July 2026 — the swearing-in occurred on the morning of 30 July.
• No gazetting information, secretary, deadline, budget or submission guidance appears.

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