Guyana has appointed an international Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the MV Barima, the state ferry whose capsizing off the Essequibo coast has become the deadliest maritime disaster in the country's history. President Irfaan Ali announced on Sunday that the five-member panel would be chaired by Justice Godfrey Smith of Belize, a CARICOM legal representative and ad hoc appeal court judge in the Eastern Caribbean. The commission has been asked to determine what caused the vessel to capsize and to recommend reforms to prevent a repeat.

The disaster occurred on the night of 18 July, when the 87-year-old ferry left the capital, Georgetown, bound for Port Kaituma, a remote community reachable mainly by water. It capsized in Atlantic waters off the Essequibo coast after reportedly taking on water. The confirmed death toll has reached 72, drawn from an estimated 179 people believed to have been on board. Seventy-six survivors have been rescued. The ferry's passenger manifest listed only 133 names, a discrepancy that has become one of the central questions facing investigators, along with allegations from survivors that the vessel was overloaded with both passengers and cargo.

The commission's other members bring a spread of technical and legal expertise. Captain Hamada Fouda, a senior maritime surveyor with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica, will assess the vessel's condition and compliance history. Rear Admiral Hayden Pritchard, retired from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, and Dr Andrzej Jasionowski, a Polish naval architect, are expected to focus on questions of stability and structural integrity. Nyree Alfonso, a Trinidadian maritime lawyer, completes the panel. Their brief covers not only the mechanics of the sinking but the conduct of the captain and crew, both of whom were detained after testing positive for marijuana use, and the adequacy of the search and rescue response, which some survivors have criticised as slow.

The appointment has not gone unchallenged. The parliamentary opposition, comprising A Partnership for National Unity and We Invest in Nationhood, has objected to what it calls a unilateral process, arguing that the terms of reference should have been settled through the National Assembly rather than decided by the president alone. Opposition figures have indicated they intend to press the matter further and have not ruled out public protests if the government declines to involve parliament in shaping the inquiry's scope. The government has so far maintained that the commission's independence rests on the professional standing of its members rather than on any parliamentary role in its formation.

Scrutiny has also turned to why a vessel approaching its ninth decade was still in active service on one of the country's more hazardous routes. The MV Barima underwent major repairs in 2024 and had further maintenance scheduled for October this year. Officials have said a replacement ferry, bought from India for close to $13 million, has already arrived in Guyana but cannot yet enter service because the pier at Port Kaituma required to accommodate it is unfinished.

The inquiry now joins a wider reckoning under way in Guyana over how the disaster was allowed to happen, encompassing manifest controls, vessel inspection regimes and the coordination of emergency services in a country where river and coastal transport remains a lifeline for isolated communities. The legal instruments needed to formally establish the commission are being finalised, after which its investigation is expected to begin in earnest. Its conclusions and suggestions for changing the nation's maritime safety system have not yet been made public.