President Irfaan Ali has announced the creation of the HEART Initiative, a national programme aimed at providing long-term support to survivors of the MV Barima tragedy, the families of those who died and people whose loved ones remain unaccounted for.

In an address to the nation on Monday, Ali said the initiative was intended to ensure that support continues long after the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

“I promised in the early hours of that tragedy that my government will stand with the survivors and the families of the victims and those still unaccounted for — and that we will do so not for a fleeting moment, not until the headlines fade, but throughout the long, tender journey of healing that stretches far beyond this period of immediate grief,” he said.

Ali stressed that the initiative was not a form of compensation but an expression of national solidarity.

“Grief cannot be balanced by any ledger. This is support born out of the refusal to let anyone walk through their sorrow alone. This is solidarity, that unbreakable thread that binds us, one to another, in our common humanity,” he said.

The initiative, known as H.E.A.R.T. – Hope, Empathy, Aid, Resilience and Trust – will coordinate material, moral and spiritual support for those affected by the tragedy.

According to the President, the body will be led by Carl Stewart and overseen by religious and civil society representatives from across Guyana.

The President also announced that he had asked Belizean attorney and former foreign affairs minister Eamon Harrison Courtenay to assist in developing the arrangements for financial assistance for survivors and the families of those who died.

Ali said Courtenay’s experience as a lawyer, former attorney general, former minister of foreign affairs and former minister of investment and foreign trade in Belize would help guide the process.

He emphasised that any financial assistance would not constitute compensation for survivors or bereaved families.

Ali said the measures reflected the government’s commitment to ensuring that every survivor receives support and that every bereaved family is treated with dignity.

He urged Guyanese to remain united in the wake of the tragedy.

“We are Guyana. We do not abandon our own. We rise from the ashes of sorrow with arms wide open,” he said.