Checking…

…on seaworthiness
Your Eyewitness was pleased that the Barima CoI has started their work in a hands-on manner – after they’d been bush-wacked by Sanction Man when they opened their activity by trying to listen to the survivors and the relatives of the dead and missing. They’d ambled over to the Kingston Wharf from where the Barima had departed to inspect the facilities. Fortuitously, the Ma Lisha – which had replaced the Barima after its tragic end – was at dockside and could then be inspected to give the CoI an idea of the T&HD maintenance discipline – or lack thereof!!
The Ma Lisha’s just a tad over three years old, having been built in India and put into service in August 2023. The Barima – on the other hand – was over 80 years old! It was reported – and we have pictures which we know are worth a thousand words!! – that parts of the Ma Lisha deck are already rusting – with flakes coming off the hands of the CoI member who’d rubbed his hand over it!!
Now, these marine experts know that marine coatings deteriorate during service – but they know too that this is why regular inspections and timely coating repairs matter!! If these rusty parts – right there on deck in plain sight – weren’t taken care of, your Eyewitness shudders to think what might lurk below deck!! Or what the Barima’s condition was like!! Marine experts identify protective coatings as a principal means of preserving steel strength – and if the new Ma Lisha didn’t get it when plying salt water – imagine the Barima!
The location of the rust also matters!! The tank air vents that were rusted allow tanks to breathe, and their closing devices help prevent water entering through those openings!! Your Eyewitness confirmed that maintenance requirements specifically call for corrosion protection of air-pipe closing-device casings!! This ain’t an auspicious beginning of the CoI’s work!!
Your Eyewitness thinks that the reported deterioration warrants prompt independent inspection, since it raises questions about maintenance, the original coating application, and the suitability of the affected fittings!! The latest survey findings, maintenance records, tests of the affected vents and – where steel appears wasted – thickness measurements are vital. And by extension, demands for analogous records for the Barima be scrutinised with a fine-tooth comb!!
And here we’re only talking about the painting maintenance!! There’re the reports by passengers that the Barima was already taking in water before it keeled over and sank!! This suggests that the hull itself was compromised and leaking – due to lack of maintenance! We’ll be able to check this out when BK Intl raises the ship!!
In the meantime, let’s give the CoI time and space to do the job, shall we??

…visas
The European Union issues what they call a “Schengen Area visa” that includes all 29 countries within its ambit. Sounds efficient, doesn’t it?? Except that for us in Guyana, we can’t apply for this visa even though there’s now a French embassy here!! No, Siree Bob!! We’ve gotta treck over to Suriname or French Guiana and present our application in person – even though the info is sent electronically somewhere else, since you’ve gotta wait days for a response!!
At the tourism confab going on in Georgetown, never one to mince words, Pressie mentioned the EU run-around: “The European Union is still BACKWARD in this region. We have to travel to Trinidad and Suriname to get biometrics to do it.” The question, of course, is ‘What gives?’. And let’s face facts squarely – these restrictions aren’t because the EU thinks we may jump ship and remain there. Basically, it’s because they don’t want to see non-White people who have the wherewithal to visit and spend big time!!

…credentials
Well, it looks like the chances of our nominee for the UN Secretary General getting the nod have dimmed beyond the point of recovery. But we can hold our head up high that we didn’t sacrifice our principles to curry favour!!