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Minister Fox calls for better security at Gov’t buildings
Dr. Desrey Fox
Minister within the Ministry of Education, Dr. Desrey Fox, is urging for government buildings to be properly secured and for personnel to be adequately trained in order to deal with an emergency.
Minister Fox’s comments fall on the heels of the fire which destroyed the Ministry of Education building at Plantain Walk, West Bank Demerara, last Thursday.
In an invited comment yesterday, Dr. Fox said that government buildings need to be better protected in the sense that the relevant security systems need to be improved.
“We need to have fire alarm systems, smoke detectors and to ensure that there is proper working fire extinguishers because we really are housed in wooden buildings and we need to have our in-service training and building capacity as it relates to the use of all these equipment,” Minister Fox said.
She urged for medical kits to be made available and for staff to be trained in performing first aid.
“Suppose a fire was to happen in one of these buildings during the day or in a school or in an office, we need to have our personnel equipped to handle that.”
Meanwhile, she explained that administrative measures have been put in place since the fire, as the public is being asked to be patient with the Region 3 Education Department, while the employees reorganise themselves at the location they have been placed at.
She added that the fire has affected some 37 persons who worked in the building, including probation officers from the Human Services Ministry and representatives from NARI and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).
All employees, Dr. Fox said, have been relocated to buildings at the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC).
Some of the documents destroyed in the fire included bio data for teachers, recruitment and payment records, general programmes and paperwork for the administration and delivery of education in region three.
“At this point, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the top level regional authorities who went to support their colleagues have decided to work continuously to be able to try and retrieve the information.”
According to Dr. Fox, some of the data which were housed in the building were also sent to the central department of the Education Ministry, and as such, efforts are being made to have them copied and restored to the temporary location.
“What we have also done immediately yesterday (Thursday), was to assign persons from the MIS unit to go and help to build capacity and to assist them (the employees) to begin to use computerised systems.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Fox said that the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, as the Ministry of Education is still awaiting final word from the Guyana Fire Service and the Police Force.
The Ministry of Education is also still estimating the amount of losses, even as the Minister noted that the building will soon be rebuilt.
Kaieteur News was told that the fire was believed to have been electrical in nature, as there was reportedly an unstable supply of power in the area at the time.
The security guard who was on duty at the time the fire is said to have started, Jermaine Mahaica, told Kaieteur News that he went into work at 21:00 hrs on Wednesday, and observed that there were frequent fluctuations in the area. “The power jus’ keep going on and off,” the man recounted.
He added that at around 02:20 hrs on Thursday, he heard an explosion and within minutes, the building went up in flames.
“I hear ‘placks, placks’ in the building and I see the wire sparking… and then the fire started… it coulda happen from a GPL problem because the current was going on and off,” Mahaica said.
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