The financial statement audits of ferries operated by the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) are not up to date, Auditor General Deodat Sharma has acknowledged, as scrutiny of the state-owned ferry service intensifies following the deadly sinking of the MV Barima.

Sharma made the disclosure while responding to questions from Kiskadee Watch on Friday about the extent to which his office examines the operations of the aged ferries so far as their seaworthiness is concerned. 

He was speaking after the official handing over of the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year 2025 in the Parliament Chamber, Public Buildings, Brickdam, Georgetown.

“Those come under Transport and Harbours Department; they’re financial statement audit but the audits are not up to date I must say,” Sharma said. He explained that once the department submits its outstanding financial statements, the Auditor General’s Office will examine the relevant issues.

“Once they submit their financial statement audit, we will examine all these issues and continue to examine those issues as we go along,” he continued. He however said that he could not immediately provide a record of how long the audits had been outstanding.

The MV Barima, an 87-year-old state-owned vessel that was travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma capsized off the Essequibo Coast last July 18. Seventy-three people died in the disaster, while 76 were rescued and another 30 remained unaccounted for during the preparatory period of the Commission of Inquiry.

The tragedy has prompted questions about the vessel’s maintenance, seaworthiness, oversight and the general management of the state ferry service.

Internal maintenance and defect records have shown that mechanical and electrical problems had been documented aboard the MV Barima between November 2025 and March 2026, including an out-of-service generator, leaking engine exhaust, overheating machinery, defective cooling equipment and deteriorated batteries. Several of the reported problems were marked for urgent attention.

Public Works Minister Juan Edghill had previously defended the vessel’s seaworthiness, saying there had been no report declaring the MV Barima unfit for service. He said the vessel had last been dry-docked in 2024 and was scheduled for another dry-docking in the latter part of 2026.

Tender documents however outlined approximately $124.5 million in proposed repairs to the MV Barima, including work on its hull plating and framing, cargo hatches, propulsion and steering systems, sea valves, propeller shafts, stern tubes and other components.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips had told Parliament that the Air Traffic Control Centre received a distress signal at 10:43 p.m. on July 18, while the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre was informed at 11:03 p.m. The first reported rescue occurred at 2:27 a.m., when five people were rescued.

A five-member Commission of Inquiry was subsequently established to examine the sinking, loss of life and response to the disaster. Its terms of reference include examining the sequence of events, immediate and contributing causes, compliance with legal and safety requirements, shortcomings or failures, and accountability and reforms where warranted.

The vessel remains on the seabed, with questions also being raised over the pace of its salvage and the evidentiary value of recovering it for the inquiry.