Dear Editor,
The recent MV Barima tragedy, with its mounting death toll that is set to surpass 100 souls and the ensuing calls for ministerial accountability, force us to confront a deeper, more pervasive rot in our national psyche and governance.
For years, we have grown accustomed to the degradation at our ferry stellings and on our ferries. Why? Because politicians, their families, and their friends do not use ferries; they use planes and helicopters to fly around the country. But the ordinary folks are forced into these dilapidated conditions out of necessity. A father taking his children home for the August holidays created a situation where they will never go to school again, because they are now at the bottom of the sea.
But I want to focus on a small issue to expose the rot. Take, for example, the toilets at Parika and at the North West Port in Kingston. They are a national disgrace—unusable, unsanitary, and a source of constant complaint. I know; I have seen them and used them. Commuters are condemned to accessing facilities without toilet seats, and they are always overflowing or just plain stink. This is not merely a matter of poor maintenance; it is a profound disregard for the dignity of the Guyanese people, many of whom rely on the ferry system as their only lifeline.
We are a country enriched by billions in oil revenues, yet we cannot provide a functioning toilet system at a state-owned stelling.
Our inability to manage something as basic as public sanitation is a clear indication of a larger, systemic failure. If we cannot maintain a simple toilet to a basic standard, how can we be surprised when an 87-year-old vessel is allowed to ply dangerous routes overloaded and breaking all the maritime rules, with an inaccurate manifest and reports of crew drug use? The neglect of small details—a broken seat, a lack of toilet paper, a missing plank on the stelling—is a precursor to greater disasters.
Why is maintenance unheard of? Because we have allowed a culture where accountability is absent. The calls for Minister Edghill to be removed are justified, but they are only a start. The current administration must answer for these systemic failures that have put lives at risk. What has Irfaan Ali and his team of Ministers been doing for the last six years?
I live in the UK, and the contrast is indeed stark. Here, a clean public facility is a given. It is a sign of a functional society where citizens and government alike respect public property. In Guyana, we have neither. We seem to accept mediocrity as our national standard.
The MV Barima tragedy is the inevitable result of a government that has normalized neglect and low standards. The small issue of a broken toilet at Parika and a pit latrine at a public school should have been a warning years ago. But who cared?
Why is it that we cannot depend on the Government of Guyana to have proper facilities? Why can the Transport and Harbours Department not function like any other ferry service around the Caribbean? Other countries with far fewer resources manage to run reliable, safe, and dignified transport systems. What is our excuse?
That MV Barima is a symbol of Guyana—we are a decaying society. Money cannot buy systems; money cannot buy class; money cannot buy a functional society. Honest action can and there is none of this in the PPP.