Guyana working to reverse 19 maritime “strikes” caused by APNU+AFC Govt – MP McAllister

The Guyana Government is currently working to earn 19 “stars” to reverse the “strikes” that the country received from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) after failing to implement a series of compliance markers for an audit that was carried out in February 2018.
This is according to Legal Officer at the Guyana Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), Thandi McAllister, who is currently serving as a Parliament Secretary in the National Assembly.
On Thursday evening, McAllister delivered her contributions to the ongoing Budget 2026 Debates, during which she noted that IMO imposed the strikes against Guyana under the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition regime.
She noted that despite being given adequate notification that mandatory audit amendments to the IMO Treaty would enter into force on January 1, 2016, the Coalition Administration failed to prepare for the audit scheme two years later.
“The APNU+AFC Government, clearly callous in the administration of the sector – as with everything else – failed to implement the requirements for verification of compliance. Hence, during the conduct of the audit, from February 10 to 19, 2018, Guyana recorded 19 findings – 19 strikes,” she revealed.
Among the findings of that audit was Guyana’s lack of requisite technical and legal personnel for the effective implementation of Maritime Conventions, with no utilisation of available external options for the facilitation of the process.
The auditors also found that maritime affairs were not prioritised at the national strategic planning level and that there was a use of and a reliance on an archaic management system, as well as a lack of a policy relative to the retention of maritime information.
In addition, Guyana was flagged for having a lack of relevant technical capacity, which resulted in no development of relevant policies and guidelines to aid the implementation of enforcement of IMO instruments to which the State of Guyana is party. It also found there was no effective mechanism as stipulated by several international organisations to ensure that messages related to the safety of navigation were made readily available.

19 stars
But according to McAllister, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is committed to fixing these findings.
“We will continue to build our maritime capacity and infrastructure so that when we have that follow-up audit… We will register 19 stars,” she declared in the National Assembly on Thursday evening.
The Parliament Secretary noted that since 2020, the Dr Irfaan Ali-led Administration has prioritised the transformation and modernisation of the maritime sector. In fact, it has embarked on an aggressive programme to construct over 30 navigation markers along the Essequibo River and key navigational aids in the Demerara River to enhance navigational safety and efficiency.
Moreover, the Government has acquired three new pilot boats and even fixed the second-hand David P vessel that was acquired by the Coalition in 2018 against her advice.
“The David P was not fully operational due to mechanical issues. We fixed it because we did not want for taxpayers’ dollars to be wasted,” she asserted, adding that “These [three] newly built vessels are part of the Government’s plans to modernise MARAD’s fleet, which will soon be expanded to include a modern hydrographic survey vessel and a specialised vessel designed to maintain, deploy and replace navigational buoys and beacons.”

Dredging works
These will be complemented with the dredging of the Demerara River, for which some $6.3 billion has been allocated in Budget 2026, according to Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar.
During his debate presentation on Thursday evening, Indar explained that “…the siltation rate is refilling the river where we already dredged. So, we have to make sure we keep it dredged.”
This way, the Public Utilities Minister pointed out, bigger vessels can be facilitated in local waters, bringing in more goods at lower costs.
“We can get fuel ships, cargo ships so that the unit rates in the country can drop, thereby making sure that all the goods that we bring in the country, the prices are dropped, including fuel for the power companies – fuel that we sell back to [vehicle owners] and the private sector. If we dredge deeper, we can have bigger cargo ships. It cuts down the unit cost of freight, then by that reduce freight for everybody in the country. That is what we’re spending our money on. That is our priority,” Indar stressed.

New Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre
Meanwhile, in order to fulfil responsibilities under the National Search and Rescue Plan, a new Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre will be operationalised this year.
Apart from boosting marine assets, MARAD has been working on improving its technical and administrative capacities with the appointment of a Registrar of Ships and a Registrar of Seafarers, in compliance with the Shipping Act of 98, both of whom are trained by the World Maritime University.
Training was also done to improve the quality of staff at the Hydrographic Unit in the areas of applied and exploration geology, marine cartography and Category B hydrographic surveys. There is also now a port administrator, a marine environment compliance officer and a port engineer, as well as lawyers trained to transform maritime conventions into national laws.
In fact, McAllister disclosed that MARAD’s legal department is working with the Ministry of Legal Affairs on “…crafting a comprehensive legislative blueprint, including a modern Port Authority Act that will reflect acceptable global standards of operation, oversight and regulation.”
These interventions, the Parliament Secretary added, are being recognised with Guyana set to host two major regional maritime time conferences this year – the 31st Meeting of the Caribbean Port State Control Conference and the fifth Regional Meeting of the Heads and Directors of Maritime Agencies.