Opposition steps up demand for removal of Edghill and Indar over MV Barima tragedy with Parliamentary protest

Members of the Parliamentary and non-Parliamentary Opposition parties stood side by side outside the National Assembly this afternoon in a protest calling for justice for the victims of the MV Barima ferry tragedy and their families.

The protest began on the outside of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, where the National Assembly meets, ahead of today’s sitting. In addition to calling for justice in the matter, the Opposition members also demanded the removal of Government Ministers, Bishop Juan Edghill and Deodat Indar, who overlook and have responsibility for the maritime and transport and harbours sector.

APNU Member of Parliament, Vinceroy Jordan, said the tragedy has exposed the failures of the Government, and it must be held responsible.

“We are here today protesting and calling for Edghill and Indar to go. Both Ministers have failed all of Guyana. To this date, we recognise that the Government, they have not yet said in anyway that they have any interest in letting go of Edghill nor Indar and at this point we know its because of the negligence of both Edghill and Indar that killed over 100 Guyanese. We are saying that we will not sit idly by and allow Edghill and Indar to walk into the National Assembly today and operate as if its business as usual”, Jordan said.

Another APNU Member of Parliament, Sherod Duncan, who has been one of the Opposition Members meeting with affected family members of the tragedy told reporters that the Government cannot sidestep blame and responsibility in the tragedy.

“We believe that the administration should relieve the Minister of Public Works, in particular, Juan Edghill of that portfolio and of course the Minister Deodat Indar who has some purview over the maritime sector and that is why we are calling for both of them to go”, Duncan stated.

Between chants of “Edghill must go, Indar must go”, Opposition Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul said mismanagement by the subject Ministers and the Government overall led to Port Kaituma not having the services of the new ferry that was bought more than three years ago.

He said “in 2023, the MV Ma Lisha came to Guyana, sailed from India, and Edghill said this boat is to ply the Port Kaituma route and from 2024 to now, they have been no movement by the Ministry of Public Works so that they could be phase two and phase three completion (of the stelling) so that the MV Ma Lisha could traverse that route, so that is clearly incompetence on the part of Edghill because he was not focused on the job at hand”, Mahipaul said.

MP Sharma Solomon said the lives of citizens were taken for granted by the ferry being overloaded and possibly not seaworthy.

“We are out here to call for the most basic that is necessary in this crisis which is accountability, to ask for the Ministers to go, so that we can have an impartial investigation, to ask for the Minister, who misled this country and remained defiant, in misleading this country until corrected by the survivors who told us their harrowing stories of just how it was to travel first on an almost 90 year old vessel and then the conditions under which to travel, very un-seaworthy and at the same time overloaded” Solomon said.

As the National Assembly’s sitting was about to start and as the members made their way to the Chamber, Minister Deodat Indar faced a loud protest from the Opposition MPs in the hallway.

Once the Assembly got started, the Opposition MPs continued with their loud protest in the House, demanding the removal of the two Government Ministers.

The protest became so loud at one point that it forced the Speaker to take a five-minute break, which did not bring an end to the protest.

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