On 18 July 2026 the MV Barima, a ferry which was 87 years old, capsized off the coast of Guyana's Essequibo while it was carrying about 179 people. By the end of July 73 bodies had been retrieved and approximately 30 people were still missing, while 76 had been rescued. A large number of the passengers were using the only feasible route available to them—that is to say, ordinary people travelling to coastal and inland communities for work, family reasons or for other essential trips.
The dead and missing included parents, children, workers, and members of the crew. Survivors said that the ship began to list well before it sank, problems which had become so common that they were accepted as normal. The official passenger list was incomplete and dozens of the people who were rescued were not listed on the original manifest. The captain and two other crew members have now been charged with murder and are awaiting trial.
They are not just figures without real-world significance; they stand for actual people whose lives have been cut short and families who are left with questions that go unanswered. Nevertheless, the ministers in charge of the departments responsible for regulating, inspecting and running the ferry services have stayed in their positions. Juan Edghill, the Minister of Public Works, and Deodat Indar, the Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, have not resigned or retired.
Given such severe losses, the fact that the responsible ministers are still in office harms public confidence in the inquiry and shows that holding on to a political position gives more protection than the lives of ordinary people. It is not possible to treat accountability selectively; when members of the crew at a low level are faced with the most serious accusations while those at the top of the system are not, trust breaks down.
We therefore demand that the ministers who are responsible for the systems which failed the passengers on the MV Barima should immediately resign. The extent of this tragedy — with 73 people confirmed dead, dozens still missing, an old vessel, a false manifest, and systemic failures in oversight — leaves no other option.
Sign the petition if you think that the people who died and the families who are still waiting for answers deserve real accountability from those in the most responsible positions.