Former Minister questions independence of MV Barima COI as secretary deeply tied to Gov't

What this source establishes

A secretary has been named — attorney Javed Shadick — closing a gap Demerara Waves recorded as open on 30 July, and the appointment drew an immediate independence objection from David Patterson. The reported ties are three: he is the son of a former PPP minister and GECOM Commissioner, he is currently Secretary of the Constitution Reform Commission, and he holds a function in the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority. The third is the one that matters most here, because the Civil Aviation Authority sits under the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation — the ministry MARAD answers to, and MARAD's regulatory oversight is one of the six heads the Commission has just been empowered to investigate. Patterson also makes a timing point that is checkable against the record: the commissioners accept the wreck must be raised and examined, and have given themselves two months. No government response appears, and this is the second set of conflict questions about this Commission to go unanswered in five days.

Key claims

• **A secretary has been named — the second gap to close in one day.** Attorney **Javed Shadick** is Secretary of the Commission. Demerara Waves stated flatly on 30 July that none had been named.
• [SINGLE SOURCE] **David Patterson**, former Minister of Public Infrastructure and interim AFC leader, questions the appointment on independence grounds. The ties reported: Shadick is the son of former PPP minister and GECOM Commissioner **Bibi Shadick**; he currently serves as Secretary of the **Constitution Reform Commission**; and he holds a function in the **Guyana Civil Aviation Authority**, which sits under the **Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation**.
• **That last point is the sharpest and this archive states it plainly: the Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation is the ministry MARAD sits under**, and MARAD's regulatory oversight is one of the six heads the Commission is now empowered to investigate. Whether that amounts to a conflict is not for this archive to say; that it is checkable is.
• Shadick previously served as Secretary to the Mahdia dormitory fire inquiry and to the 2020 elections inquiry.
• Patterson: "One would have thought that his hands were filled carrying out this important task. But now, out of the thousands of available lawyers, he has been selected once again…" And, sarcastically: "Great start to a thorough, transparent and independent international Commission of Inquiry."
• **On the deadline against the wreck.** Patterson: "The commissioners acknowledge that salvaging the vessel is necessary so the wreck can be examined for evidential purposes. Yet, despite this, they have limited the inquiry to just two months."
• [UNRESOLVED] **No government response appears.** This is the second time in five days that conflict-of-interest questions about this Commission have been put publicly and gone unanswered; Kiskadee Watch put questions about two commissioners to three government bodies on 31 July and received no reply from any of them.

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