Waiting…to exhale

Your Eyewitness is still trying to “catch himself”. There are moments when a nation seems to stop breathing. The capsizing of the MV Barima, with its terrible toll of lives lost and families forever altered, is one such moment. The grief is real. It belongs not only to those who’ve lost loved ones but also to our entire country and diaspora. We owe the victims our tears, our prayers, and our remembrance. But we owe them something more – justice.
History has an unfortunate habit of allowing tragedy to become ritual. We mourn, we appoint a commission, we await a report, we express regret – and then we return to business as usual until another avoidable disaster forces us once again into collective mourning. That cycle dishonours the dead more than silence ever could. The investigation into the MV Barima tragedy must, therefore, be swift, independent, and uncompromising! It must establish not just what happened on that fatal voyage but WHY it happened. Were maintenance schedules ignored? Were safety inspections superficial? Were the warning signs dismissed? Was profit, convenience, or bureaucratic indifference placed above human life? Every link in the chain must be examined!
Equally important, accountability has gotta extend beyond individuals to institutions.
Catastrophes like this are rarely the product of a single mistake. They usually arise from systems that tolerate shortcuts, reward complacency, and blur responsibility until everyone is responsible and no one is held to account! Those found culpable MUST face consequences proportionate to their failures!! Condign punishment ain’t an act of vengeance – it’s society’s declaration that negligence carrying the price of human life will not be excused!! Without accountability, every promise of reform is gonna ring hollow!
Yet even as the investigation continues, our nation can’t remain suspended in grief. Ferries must continue to sail. Commerce must continue. Families must continue to earn a living. Our country must move forward – not by forgetting the tragedy, but by learning from it. Moving on does not mean moving past – it means moving differently!
The greatest tribute to those who perished shouldn’t be another wreath laid upon the water. It should be a transport system in which future passengers board with confidence rather than apprehension. It should be institutions that treat safety as a sacred obligation – rather than as an administrative inconvenience. Nations are ultimately judged not by whether tragedies occur – no society’s immune from accidents – but by how they respond when tragedy strikes. They can retreat into sorrow and recrimination, or they can transform grief into resolve.
The victims of the MV Barima deserve more than our mourning. They deserve a country determined to ensure that their fate is never repeated.
That’s how a nation honours its dead – by rebuilding stronger upon the lessons learned!

…for a settlement
Quick now – is the Iran war on or off? Gotcha!! Had to check, didn’t you?? This war has become the geopolitical equivalent of a flickering light switch – on, off, on, off!! or “paused pending consultations”!! Then it’s “temporarily suspended while all parties reserve the right to resume hostilities”!!
Military analysts have given up trying to update their maps. News anchors no longer say “breaking news” – they simply announce the diplomatic weather forecast!! The missiles seem to work office hours. They clock in with a bang, take extended lunches for negotiations, return briefly for a few more bangs, then knock off early ’cause somebody announced “constructive talks”!!
Markets suffer whiplash – oil prices soar on Monday, collapse on Tuesday, rebound on Wednesday, and spend Thursday in therapy. Even the Generals gotta be confused. One imagines ship Captains ordered, “Advance immediately!” then five minutes later: “Stop. Peace talks.” Ten minutes after: “Advance cautiously. Peace talks encountered technical difficulties”!!
The only clear winner’s the news media hocking the world’s first “to-be-continued” war!!

…for sustained development
The Vice President stressed to the Toshao Conference that they have gotta focus on developing market-driven, income-generating activities and employment creation. But hasn’t the Government been initiating these with great regularity over the years??
Whatever happened to that Rupununi rice project??