Outreaches a permanent feature of our work as a Govt

Attorney General Anil Nandlall has rejected claims that the government’s recent outreach activities are intended to distract from the MV Barima tragedy, maintaining that such engagements are an integral part of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C)’s grassroots political work.

Nandlall made the remarks during his weekly programme, “Issues in the News”, on Tuesday evening, responding to claims within the political sphere that the government’s recent public outreach activities are aimed at diverting attention from the July 18 MV Barima tragedy.

“Public outreaches are an indispensable factor in our political work and has always been and will always be,” he posited, highlighting that grassroots engagements are conducted by the PPP/C both in and out of government.

“Outreaches, whether as a collective or individual ministers is a permanent feature of our work as a government and as of our work as a political party and the history of Guyana is replete with examples, illustrating and demonstrating that philosophy at work,” Nandlall contended.

He pointed out that throughout the years, PPP/C Ministers are, on a weekly basis, in the fields interacting with citizens.

The Attorney General further noted that the PPP/C is the only political party within the British Commonwealth that holds Cabinet outreaches across the country where ministers, parliamentarians, and senior government officials visit different regions and spend days meeting the people.

In fact, he highlighted that outreaches have been ongoing since after the September 2025 elections and that the recent one led by President Dr Irfaan Ali to Region One (Barima-Waini) had long been planned, before the fatal ferry accident.

“We started cabinet outreaches just after the September 1, 2025 elections. In November, we were in Region Six on a cabinet outreach programme, in December 2025, we were in Region Three. June 2026, we were in Region Seven. All of this happened before the MV Barima sank. July 2026, we were in Region Two, August we were in Region One. The Region One outreach [was planned] long (before). These things were planned since last year. And we have planned for the rest of the year; in September we will be in Region Ten,” the Attorney General explained.

In this regard, he rejected and condemned comments suggesting that the government outreaches are intended to distract from the MV Barima tragedy, noting that they are “deliberate lie”.

The MV Barima was a state-owned passenger and cargo ferry that sank on July 18, 2026, off the Essequibo Coast in one of the worst maritime disasters in the country’s history.

The tragedy resulted in dozens of fatalities and criminal charges against crew members. A presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI), comprising international and regional members, has been established to probe the circumstances surrounding the incident while the government has issued a request for proposals inviting companies to submit bids for the salvaging of the vessel.