Calls grow for ministers to be fired over Mahdia tragedy

May 30, 2023 News

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– parties, citizens demand independent CoI

Kaieteur News – In the aftermath of the deadly inferno that claimed the lives of 19 children at a school dormitory in Mahdia and the laying of murder charges against a student who allegedly set the fire to the building, citizens have stepped up calls for government ministers who had oversight responsibility for the facility to be fired or asked to resign.  At a minimum persons have called for the resignation of Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn, Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, Amerindian Affairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai and Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall.

President Irfaan Ali who left the jurisdiction on Monday for a meeting of South American leaders in Brazil has promised a Commission of Inquiry into the tragedy which occurred last week two Sunday nights ago. He has not made any statement on the culpability of his ministers with portfolio responsibility for the ill-fated Mahdia secondary School dormitory. However, despite his silence, citizens have ramped up calls for “heads to roll.”

In an editorial last week Saturday, the privately owned Stabroek News said that Guyana is being badly run with little regard for its citizens’ safety and that no amount of oil money in the world will change that. The newspaper also called out government ministers for parading survivors of the Mahdia tragedy at a candle-light vigil last week, saying that in other countries, the subject ministers would be expected to immediately offer their resignations out of principle.

In the scathing editorial, under the caption ‘collective incompetence and slackness’, Stabroek News described the disaster as “the single biggest loss of life since Jonestown and a body blow for any ruling party anywhere.” “How to strike the balance between being seen to mourn while refusing to accept responsibility for the deaths of the 19? How to massage the narrative to avoid blame?  1) Start with highlighting the heroism of the pilots, 2) Emphasize that it was allegedly a deviant student who started the fire, 3) Make sure to mention how hard the President is working. (What he fails to understand is that real leadership ensures such tragedies don’t or rarely ever happen) 4) Organise a carefully calibrated outpouring of compassion and care for the students. (What a pity there was not the same concern and attention when they were alive.)” The opinion piece noted that the female students who occupied the school’s dormitory “points to the educational discrimination against indigenous people.”

The Stabroek News editorial noted that in Region Nine, the failure rate at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) has been over 70 per cent and pointed to a 2017 UNICEF report which states that out of 100 indigenous boys and girls, only 53 would reach the final years of secondary education. According to the editorial, the main factors that influenced school attendance and students’ permanence in school were lack of schools, particularly secondary schools in the hinterlands and access to those that exist. Further the lack of qualified teachers and resources such as books and learning materials, among others; poor infrastructure at the schools, including buildings that are old; lack of computers, and access to the internet and lack of science labs in general are other factors.

“In most of the visited schools, the washrooms were in dilapidated conditions; many did not have doors or running water and were dirty. In some schools, students preferred to use the bushes rather than the sanitary blocks,” Stabroek News quoted the report as saying. Additionally, the editorial stated that there is a “lack of regard for Amerindian parents who in wanting a better education for their daughters are forced to trust in the state to protect their safety and virtue.” “Mahdia was an accident just waiting to happen. The deficit of fire prevention equipment in the building, and the inadequate systems to unlock the dorm in case of a fire; then there was the absence of an adequate fire tender in the town.  Just another example, of the lack of importance successive governments have placed on the residents of Mahdia’s safety.”

The Stabroek News editorial noted too that the situation is not limited to the hinterland regions but across the country. “Your house catches fire, it’s you and the bucket brigade. And let us stop blaming the fire service which has been underfunded for decades by governments who have simply chosen not to prioritise the safety of its citizens and their homes.” “Finally in the 21st century there is no DNA laboratory to identify the remains of the children? It would be farcical if it were not so sad,” the editorial questioned.  The opinion piece posited that in other countries the subject ministers would be expected to immediately offer their resignations out of principle, something which the Head of State may “politely decline”. “Instead in a shocking and heartless decision, the party paraded some of the survivors at a candle-lit vigil – one even wearing a cast – comforted by the very minister entrusted with their dead classmates’ safety. At some point the PPP/C political drama we all live in, becomes a dark absurdist pantomime. This has been a damaging week, a hard week. Not only the loss of human life but a stark, grey reminder that we live in a country that continues to be very badly run with little regard for its citizens’ safety. No amount of oil money in the world will change that,” the editorial said scathingly.

Who will charge the government?

Businessman and civil society activist, Clairmonte Lye, who had famously returned his national award to the state in protest against the then President Bharrat Jagdeo pulling  advertisements from the Stabroek News in a letter to this newspaper called for an independent Commission of Inquiry. “It has been reported that charges will be made against the girl who allegedly caused the fire at the Mahdia dormitory. So who will charge the government for its absolute and abysmal incompetence and ineptness in its failure to provide appropriate fire safety measures? Successive governments are equally culpable; and for that reason any Commission of Inquiry must not include or influenced by members of either the government or opposition,” Lye said.

This, he said must serve as a wake-up call for us all, and affected parents must not be taken in by platitudes and expressions of sympathy from the President and his ministers. “Make no mistake about it: The buck stops at the government,” Lye said.

He reasoned that in all public buildings, fire escape doors must be fitted with what are called “panic bars” which when pressed, causes those doors to open immediately and with little effort. No bolts, locks or padlocks are installed on these doors.

“The obvious concern is that persons might use such fire exit doors to leave the building undetected. However, technology exits whereby the door can be fitted with a tamper-proof electronic alarm which is sounded as soon as the door is opened. This serves to deter persons from leaving the building, and in event of a fire, the alarm will automatically alert everyone in the building as soon as the door is opened. Detailed information can be found on Google. The same problem that existed at the Mahdia dormitory currently can be found at almost all government dormitories throughout the country. The Commission of Inquiry must therefore extend to include these as well as all other government buildings.”

Lye said too that night clubs and other similar public venues are similar potential fire traps. “In the case of grilled private dwellings, each bedroom should be fitted with a grilled window that swings outward and bolted on the inside for easy access to the exterior. I hope that these observations might assist the Commission of Inquiry in its deliberations.”

Lavish promises of relief

Also weighing on the tragedy, A New and United Guyana (ANUG) in a statement last weekend said the deaths of the 19 children trapped behind locked doors and grilled windows has horrified the nation. “Our citizens have helplessly watched

in shared sorrow as events came to light. Very quickly, anger and outrage have replaced

that sorrow. We now see the growing call for ‘justice’; our citizens need someone to

blame, to hold responsible for the tragedy. It has come to light that there were no fire prevention measures and no fire detection measures, and no administrative system of oversight to ensure the safety of the sleeping school children. The firefighting service is woefully inadequate in the mining town of Mahdia, and no one seems to know how the custodian/person responsible was unable to help before the fire to grow out of control,” ANUG said. ANUG observed that the government has flooded media outlets with pictures of caring and sympathetic Ministers, and have made lavish promises of relief to families of victims, all in the hope that this will detract attention from any question of accountability. “The stratagem has not worked: the Leader of the Opposition has called for the resignation of the Ministers of Education and Home Affairs.

So who is to blame? ANUG agrees with the Leader of the Opposition: the Ministers must be held accountable. They ought to have expected and been prepared for fire, and taken safety precautions as a matter of a standard and fixed system of operation. This is not the first fire at a school during this administration.”

According to ANUG in the short period since its return to office in 2020, the PPP/C  administration has experienced fires at North Ruimveldt Multilateral in June, 2021, at Northwest Secondary in September, 2021, at St George’s Secondary in July, 2022, at Amelia’s Ward Primary in September, 2022, and at Christ Church in January, 2023. In each case, the incident was characterised by unpreparedness of the

administration, by absence of smoke detectors, fire alarms, fire extinguishers, fire

response systems. Each of these fires presented an easy lesson which should have alerted even the most inept of leaders that a fire prevention, alarm and safety system was urgently needed in our schools.

The party asked at what point must Guyanese all agree that a lesson ought to have been learned, and the Ministers with oversight of schools and social protection should have realised that perhaps the implementation of a fire prevention and fire safety system might be a good idea? “Why do our leaders wait for nineteen children to die before someone says ‘A system should be in place.’ To make matters worse, this building was designed for security, and the children were locked in behind grilled bars with no easy escape from a clear fire hazard. Did no one think of safety? The responsibility must lie with our leaders, who are proven time and again to be woefully incompetent at any aspect of the real work of governance.”

ANUG said but the irony cannot be lost that the main opposition party has demonstrated equal incompetence during their term in office. “That administration experienced a fire at the Drop-in Centre at Sophia in July, 2016, where two boys perished and 19 managed to escape. The Inquiry ordered by President Granger concluded that there were ‘systematic failures at all levels’. No systems were implemented: just one year later, in June, 2017, a fire at the Juvenile Detention Centre in Sophia resulted in some children being rushed to hospital when someone set alight a mattress. Equally damning: on 3rd March, 2016, 17 inmates were killed when a fire was

started at the Camp Street Prison. The administration did not learn from that ‘easy lesson’. Just one year later, on 9th July, 2017, the Camp Street prison was razed to the ground by a second fire,” ANUG lamented.

 

 

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• Amerindian Affairs Minister, Education Minister, ffairs Minister, Pauline Sukhai and Minister of Local Government and Regional, President Irfaan Ali, Priya Manickchand, Robeson Benn

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