Looking…

… at a boat wreck

In modern parlance “looking like a train wreck” has become a metaphor describing a situation, event, relationship, or person experiencing a complete, chaotic, and catastrophic failure!! Here in Guyana, after only a week into the COI hearings on the Barima sinking we might be excused for substituting “boat wreck”!! The evidence shows safety weaknesses across the board – in maintenance, emergency preparedness, passenger accounting and rescue coordination!! The COI still gotta establish what caused the sinking and where responsibility lies – but the disclosures already justify URGENT preventive action!!
First maintenance and competence where the testimony described the absence of a formal planned maintenance system and operating manuals, alongside NO safety drills!! MARAD Chief Engineer also admitted having no formal maritime certification for his position!! While these disclosures by themselves, don’t establish a mechanical cause for the sinking they some raise serious questions about supervisory responsibilities!!
Then there were the life-saving arrangements where testimony revealed that none of the 26 survivors rescued by the coast guard team was wearing a life jacket!! While this doesn’tt prove jackets were absent from the ferry, it demands answers about their accessibility, passenger instructions and the crew’s ability to organise an evacuation.!! Equipment gotta be usable when disaster strikes.
On passenger records and emergency planning, the initial manifest listed 116 passengers and 17 crew but authorities subsequently estimated 179 people aboard!! Yet, an emergency response plan recorded a capacity of 125, and testimony indicated that no emergency response plan had been prepared specifically for T&HD ferries!! The passenger-record discrepancy nevertheless exposes a major weakness in accounting for everyone aboard!!
Distress identification and rescue resilience were a disaster the beacon’s registration information didn’t even identify it as being aboard the Barima!! Coordinates were nevertheless relayed to the Coast Guard eight minutes after the first alert. These are specific weaknesses that can be corrected without discounting rescuers’ courageous work. Your Eyewitness was astounded to find out that government ferries are exempt from seaworthiness certificates!! Really!!??
The government should gear up for independent safety audits of every passenger ferry, withdrawing vessels with critical deficiencies – while arranging replacement transport. Sailings should require verified passenger lists, documented cargo weights and distribution, clear operating limits, accessible life jackets, and a recorded safety briefing!! Maintenance schedules, crew qualifications and practical emergency drills must be independently checked!!
Rescue agencies need tested backup communications, correctly registered beacons, ferry-specific response plans and regular joint exercises. Government vessels should face enforceable inspection standards – with clear separation between operating services and checking their safety!!
Finally, the inquiry’s final recommendations should become a published action programme – naming responsible agencies, budgets and deadlines!!
Accountability gotta follow the evidence through the full chain of supervision – letting the chips fall where they may!!

…at Pressie’s realism
Pressie deserves credit for the composure and realism he displayed in his CNN interview following the signing of Guyana’s enhanced defence partnership with Washington!! Invited to see American cooperation as an exercise in domination, he affirmed our sovereignty while explaining the relationship in terms of shared interests and mutual benefit!!
That’s a sensible position for a small country living in a decidedly unequal world. All nations possess sovereign equality at the UN – but they ain’t got equal power outside its doors!! We can’t defend our territory with stirring speeches alone against Venezuela’s revanchism – so cultivating a powerful security partner’s realpolitik!!
Are the agreement’s provisions for training, defence expertise, joint exercises and improved awareness of our airspace “submission”?? Certainly, Washington pursues its own interests – who expect otherwise?? Pressie’s task is to identify where those interests coincide with ours, secure concrete benefits – and preserve the ability to disagree when they diverge!!
Sovereignty requires judgment as well as pride. On CNN, Pressie showed a welcome measure of both!!

…local
Once again, seems the govt can’t win with “civil society” – even when an independent agency like the Procurement Commission accepts a local company’s bid to raise the Barima!!
Shouldn’t they wait to see the resources BK’s gonna garner??