Dear Editor,
The recently highlighted financial and operational collapse of the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) is not a sudden event but the tragic culmination of decades of mismanagement, a stark betrayal of the department’s history and its foundational mandate.
For context, one must look back to April 1967, when a World Bank loan appraisal for the transport sector of a newly independent Guyana noted that “losses on ferry and shipping services is expected to continue to be drastically reduced, both through rate increases and drastic reduction in operating cost.” This assessment resulted in significant funding for critical infrastructure like the Demerara and Berbice Stellings, the Kumaka and Morawhana Bonds, and the Mazaruni Dry Docks. The expectation was clear: efficiency was paramount.
However, with the exception of the years 1966 to 1968, the T&HD has never made a profit in independent Guyana. In 1971, the department recorded an operational loss equivalent to approximately US$9.9 million in today’s value. By 2024, that loss had ballooned to a staggering US$28.8 million. This trajectory shows a long-term failure in the T&HD, but it has become exponentially worse since 1996, a decline I can illustrate with historical records.
The T&HD’s 1975 Annual Report, signed by the then General Manager Mr. W.H. Griffith, paints a picture of an organization that once understood accountability. That report contained a Certificate of Maintenance with a full maintenance log of all works done on pumps, lighting plants, cranes, dockyards, and ferries, signed by Chief Mechanical Engineer Mr. E.A. Marshall. It provided the Board of Directors, the Minister, and the National Assembly with a comprehensive account of the year’s operations, including a listing of all assets, down to a sea rescue launch. For emphasis a sea rescue launch! There was a sea rescue team within the T&HD in 1975.
Furthermore, the 1975 report reveals that the then PNC government actively sought improvement. It notes a Dredger Study carried out by Messrs. Peter Fraenkel and Partners, consultants from the UK, to provide recommendations for the department’s future dredging requirements. Crucially, it documents that a “Management study and master plan of Transport and Harbours Department Waterway Services commenced in July 1975 under Consultancy of Gavan McDonnell and Company (PTE) Limited of Australia, sponsored by UNDP/IBRD.” That study’s objectives were to improve efficiency, develop a programme for improvement, and provide on-the-job training for all operational staff. That same year, the department strategically added two vessels to its fleet, the M.V. ‘Kanuku’ and M.V. ‘Marudi,’ replacing the M.V. “Pakera’ which sank on her way to Port Kaituma, North West District in January 1975 and with no lives lost and the S.S. ‘Lady Berbice’, which was scrapped because of its age.
The contrast with the present day could not be starker. The T&HD is not only failing in its operational performance, but has now failed to have its books audited for a staggering 14 years. The last audit, in 2011, resulted in a full disclaimer being issued by the Auditors because they could not verify a fixed asset register with potentially missing assets worth as high as G$3 billion. Further, G$53 million in payment vouchers were missing, and a stocktaking exercise had not taken place for 21 years. To add insult to injury, over G$56 billion has been transferred to the T&HD since that damning audit disclaimer was issued and what does the Guyanese people have to show for these spendings? Loss of 100 lives?
This is not just a case of poor governance; it is a complete and total internal control failure. It represents a governance crisis that raises serious questions about the quality of supervisory oversight provided by the Board of Directors and the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Juan Edghill. The failure is compounded by the apparent inability of MARAD to enforce operational compliance on this the worst and the most delinquent of maritime performers in all of CARICOM.
The T&HD has descended from a department capable of providing detailed operational reports and engaging international consultants for improvement, to an entity that cannot even confirm ownership of its own assets. This is a disgraceful state of affairs and all of it has happened for the last six (6) years under the watch of my dear friend Mr. Juan Edghill.
If there is any reason for Mr. Juan Edghill and the full Board of Directors to be sacked, it is this dreadful conduct in public office. Just shameful.