Dear Editor,
GHK Lall’s latest column, “MV Barima CoI in ICU”, is an absolute exercise in prolix grandiloquence –a piece of sheer verbiage that requires laborious parsing just to extract what ultimately amounts to ungrounded suspicions and partisan fumes.
This phrase-monger boldly asserts that the Guyanese public has zero trust in the nation’s leadership, claiming the commissioners must have noticed this “low gutter” of trust while interacting with grieving communities. He then slide-steps into near-litigious territory, intimating that while Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith promised to place responsibility wherever it belongs, doing so would mean “biting the hand that feeds him.” This is a direct, unsubstantiated slur, implying the Commission is being ‘bought off’ to shield the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration.
For GHK Lall, the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has been declared a failure even before it has even properly begun. It is clear that no matter the outcome, he has pre-programmed himself to view this genuine vessel for accountability as a political tool. I hope he soon tires of his own self-inflicted ennui.
Let us contrast Lall’s gobbledygook with the incontrovertible facts.
First, unlike those who hide behind a façade to mask past Gold Board scandals, questionable ties to wealthy families, or unverified Wall Street credentials, the appointed Commissioners are international figures of transparent, unassailable integrity. This five-member panel blends the absolute pinnacle of legal, technical, and maritime engineering expertise from across the Caribbean and Europe:
Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith, SC (Belize) — Chairman: A highly distinguished jurist serving as Caricom’s High-Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice, and an Ad Hoc Justice of Appeal for the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
Dr Andrzej Jasionowski (Poland) — Naval Architect & Marine Engineer: A world-renowned authority on maritime safety and ship stability who specialises in forensic casualty investigations for major global maritime disasters.
Captain Hamada Fouda (Jamaica) — Senior Maritime Surveyor: A veteran compliance auditor with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica.
Ms Nyree Dawn Alfonso (Trinidad and Tobago): A prominent Attorney-at-Law specialising exclusively in Admiralty and Maritime Law.
Rear Admiral (Retired) Hayden Pritchard (Trinidad and Tobago): A retired military commander and veteran of regional naval defence and security protocols.
This panel is meticulously qualified for every single aspect of this inquiry. For an ink hornist like Lall to cast spidery aspersions on their character is pure effrontery – especially given the glass house of his own disputed academic, ecclesiastical, and professional claims. A sham is a shame, and he should stay quiet.
Furthermore, Lall’s claim that the CoI is stagnant or “in ICU” is a flat-out lie. The Commission is operating in overdrive. It has already proactively completed physical inspections of dry docks and maritime facilities along the Demerara River. The Commissioners are moving swiftly ahead of their legally scheduled public evidentiary hearings, which begin this Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
I now come to President Ali and his administration, as they have been bold, transparent, and broad-based in establishing the parameters of this probe. Invoking the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the President mandated a “comprehensive, independent, and impartial” investigation covering six expansive areas:
Seaworthiness and Safety of the Vessel
Passenger and Cargo Operations
Crew Competence and Conduct
Search, Rescue, and Recovery Operations
Regulatory and Institutional Oversight
Systemic Reforms
To completely disarm political opportunists, Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith has explicitly clarified the legal boundaries of the Terms of Reference (ToR). The CoI is not a criminal court and cannot sentence individuals, though it holds the power to refer criminal evidence directly to Prosecutors. Additionally, it does not award financial compensation. It is a strictly factual fact-finding mission currently based at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Finally, President Irfaan Ali took the most ethical, legally-sound route possible by bypassing the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD). While MARAD typically handles routine casualty investigations, the unprecedented scale of the MV Barima tragedy – which claimed 73 lives – demanded a shift away from internal State actors. Because MARAD regulated the vessel, it could not legally or ethically audit itself.
By bringing in independent, unaligned global experts to investigate State oversight impartially, President Ali has guaranteed a transparent process. This fact alone should permanently silence GHK Lall and his echo chamber.
GHK Lall’s latest column, “MV Barima CoI in ICU”, is an absolute exercise in prolix grandiloquence –a piece of sheer verbiage that requires laborious parsing just to extract what ultimately amounts to ungrounded suspicions and partisan fumes.
This phrase-monger boldly asserts that the Guyanese public has zero trust in the nation’s leadership, claiming the commissioners must have noticed this “low gutter” of trust while interacting with grieving communities. He then slide-steps into near-litigious territory, intimating that while Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith promised to place responsibility wherever it belongs, doing so would mean “biting the hand that feeds him.” This is a direct, unsubstantiated slur, implying the Commission is being ‘bought off’ to shield the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration.
For GHK Lall, the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has been declared a failure even before it has even properly begun. It is clear that no matter the outcome, he has pre-programmed himself to view this genuine vessel for accountability as a political tool. I hope he soon tires of his own self-inflicted ennui.
Let us contrast Lall’s gobbledygook with the incontrovertible facts.
First, unlike those who hide behind a façade to mask past Gold Board scandals, questionable ties to wealthy families, or unverified Wall Street credentials, the appointed Commissioners are international figures of transparent, unassailable integrity. This five-member panel blends the absolute pinnacle of legal, technical, and maritime engineering expertise from across the Caribbean and Europe:
Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith, SC (Belize) — Chairman: A highly distinguished jurist serving as Caricom’s High-Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice, and an Ad Hoc Justice of Appeal for the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
Dr Andrzej Jasionowski (Poland) — Naval Architect & Marine Engineer: A world-renowned authority on maritime safety and ship stability who specialises in forensic casualty investigations for major global maritime disasters.
Captain Hamada Fouda (Jamaica) — Senior Maritime Surveyor: A veteran compliance auditor with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica.
Ms Nyree Dawn Alfonso (Trinidad and Tobago): A prominent Attorney-at-Law specialising exclusively in Admiralty and Maritime Law.
Rear Admiral (Retired) Hayden Pritchard (Trinidad and Tobago): A retired military commander and veteran of regional naval defence and security protocols.
This panel is meticulously qualified for every single aspect of this inquiry. For an ink hornist like Lall to cast spidery aspersions on their character is pure effrontery – especially given the glass house of his own disputed academic, ecclesiastical, and professional claims. A sham is a shame, and he should stay quiet.
Furthermore, Lall’s claim that the CoI is stagnant or “in ICU” is a flat-out lie. The Commission is operating in overdrive. It has already proactively completed physical inspections of dry docks and maritime facilities along the Demerara River. The Commissioners are moving swiftly ahead of their legally scheduled public evidentiary hearings, which begin this Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
I now come to President Ali and his administration, as they have been bold, transparent, and broad-based in establishing the parameters of this probe. Invoking the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the President mandated a “comprehensive, independent, and impartial” investigation covering six expansive areas:
Seaworthiness and Safety of the Vessel
Passenger and Cargo Operations
Crew Competence and Conduct
Search, Rescue, and Recovery Operations
Regulatory and Institutional Oversight
Systemic Reforms
To completely disarm political opportunists, Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith has explicitly clarified the legal boundaries of the Terms of Reference (ToR). The CoI is not a criminal court and cannot sentence individuals, though it holds the power to refer criminal evidence directly to Prosecutors. Additionally, it does not award financial compensation. It is a strictly factual fact-finding mission currently based at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Finally, President Irfaan Ali took the most ethical, legally-sound route possible by bypassing the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD). While MARAD typically handles routine casualty investigations, the unprecedented scale of the MV Barima tragedy – which claimed 73 lives – demanded a shift away from internal State actors. Because MARAD regulated the vessel, it could not legally or ethically audit itself.
By bringing in independent, unaligned global experts to investigate State oversight impartially, President Ali has guaranteed a transparent process. This fact alone should permanently silence GHK Lall and his echo chamber.
Yours truly,
Somar Sahadeo
Somar Sahadeo
Contents
Dear Editor,
GHK Lall’s latest column, “MV Barima CoI in ICU”, is an absolute exercise in prolix grandiloquence –a piece of sheer verbiage that requires laborious parsing just to extract what ultimately amounts to ungrounded suspicions and partisan fumes.
This phrase-monger boldly asserts that the Guyanese public has zero trust in the nation’s leadership, claiming the commissioners must have noticed this “low gutter” of trust while interacting with grieving communities. He then slide-steps into near-litigious territory, intimating that while Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith promised to place responsibility wherever it belongs, doing so would mean “biting the hand that feeds him.” This is a direct, unsubstantiated slur, implying the Commission is being ‘bought off’ to shield the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration.
For GHK Lall, the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has been declared a failure even before it has even properly begun. It is clear that no matter the outcome, he has pre-programmed himself to view this genuine vessel for accountability as a political tool. I hope he soon tires of his own self-inflicted ennui.
Let us contrast Lall’s gobbledygook with the incontrovertible facts.
First, unlike those who hide behind a façade to mask past Gold Board scandals, questionable ties to wealthy families, or unverified Wall Street credentials, the appointed Commissioners are international figures of transparent, unassailable integrity. This five-member panel blends the absolute pinnacle of legal, technical, and maritime engineering expertise from across the Caribbean and Europe:
Justice Godfrey Phillip Smith, SC (Belize) — Chairman: A highly distinguished jurist serving as Caricom’s High-Level Representative for Law and Criminal Justice, and an Ad Hoc Justice of Appeal for the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
Dr Andrzej Jasionowski (Poland) — Naval Architect & Marine Engineer: A world-renowned authority on maritime safety and ship stability who specialises in forensic casualty investigations for major global maritime disasters.
Captain Hamada Fouda (Jamaica) — Senior Maritime Surveyor: A veteran compliance auditor with the Maritime Authority of Jamaica.
Ms Nyree Dawn Alfonso (Trinidad and Tobago): A prominent Attorney-at-Law specialising exclusively in Admiralty and Maritime Law.
Rear Admiral (Retired) Hayden Pritchard (Trinidad and Tobago): A retired military commander and veteran of regional naval defence and security protocols.
This panel is meticulously qualified for every single aspect of this inquiry. For an ink hornist like Lall to cast spidery aspersions on their character is pure effrontery – especially given the glass house of his own disputed academic, ecclesiastical, and professional claims. A sham is a shame, and he should stay quiet.
Furthermore, Lall’s claim that the CoI is stagnant or “in ICU” is a flat-out lie. The Commission is operating in overdrive. It has already proactively completed physical inspections of dry docks and maritime facilities along the Demerara River. The Commissioners are moving swiftly ahead of their legally scheduled public evidentiary hearings, which begin this Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
I now come to President Ali and his administration, as they have been bold, transparent, and broad-based in establishing the parameters of this probe. Invoking the Commissions of Inquiry Act, the President mandated a “comprehensive, independent, and impartial” investigation covering six expansive areas:
Seaworthiness and Safety of the Vessel
Passenger and Cargo Operations
Crew Competence and Conduct
Search, Rescue, and Recovery Operations
Regulatory and Institutional Oversight
Systemic Reforms
To completely disarm political opportunists, Chairman Justice Godfrey Smith has explicitly clarified the legal boundaries of the Terms of Reference (ToR). The CoI is not a criminal court and cannot sentence individuals, though it holds the power to refer criminal evidence directly to Prosecutors. Additionally, it does not award financial compensation. It is a strictly factual fact-finding mission currently based at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
Finally, President Irfaan Ali took the most ethical, legally-sound route possible by bypassing the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD). While MARAD typically handles routine casualty investigations, the unprecedented scale of the MV Barima tragedy – which claimed 73 lives – demanded a shift away from internal State actors. Because MARAD regulated the vessel, it could not legally or ethically audit itself.
By bringing in independent, unaligned global experts to investigate State oversight impartially, President Ali has guaranteed a transparent process. This fact alone should permanently silence GHK Lall and his echo chamber.Yours truly,
Somar SahadeoDiscover more from Guyana Times
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Source: Guyana Times
