(Demerara Waves) – President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said the anxiously awaited Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the sinking of the MV Barima ferry that claimed the lives of more than 100 persons would begin next month.
βIn relation to the CoI, the team is in place. They have started looking at their procedures, settling their procedures, and working all their workplan, and from what Iβm told in early September, the actual work would commence here on the ground,β he told aΒ Β newsΒ conference.
He again dismissed calls by multiple opposition parties, civil society activists and individuals for minister responsible for public ferries Juan Edghill and minister responsible for Maritime Administration (MARAD) Deodat Indar to be removed from office.
βI believe that if we honestly and fully want an independent analysis, a transparent analysis, then the CoI, having been established, provides that opportunity. That is why the independence of the CoI was critical and important to us. The CoI, having been established, will conduct its work, make its determination, its recommendation, and then weβll take it from there. I will not prejudice any action save and except those that are essential in the period from now to the end of the CoI, which include looking at the safety,β he said.
