Broader panel of persons needed for Mahdia dorm fire CoI

Jul 07, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Kaieteur News – The President of Guyana, on the sidelines of an event, announced that the long-awaited Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the fire at the dormitory of the Mahdia Secondary School will soon be constituted. It will be recalled that the fire claimed the lives of 20 children, left at least two others seriously injured and dozens traumatised.

That 45 days has elapsed and the COI is yet to be constituted is unacceptable, despite there being other major distractions. Greater alacrity should have been shown in addressing this issue. The delay has created some degree of public unease with some persons contending, rightly so, that it is appalling that the COI is yet to commence.

It is always advisable to have such inquiries soon after an event so as to benefit from the freshness of the memories of those who were witnesses to the event.  The promptness of an inquiry allows for the gathering of more accurate information on a tragedy.

Secondly, the early holding of an inquiry allows for quicker response in developing preventative measure.  The longer the delay in holding an inquiry, the longer it will take for the recommendations to be implemented to prevent a reoccurrence of such a tragedy. Thirdly, there was a loss of confidence in the system following the fire. An early inquiry would have demonstrated the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability and thus help to restore public confidence.

It does seem as if a one-man Commission of Inquiry is going to be held into the Mahdia fire. This is a disappointing outcome. In what has to go down and the worst human tragedy in Guyana since the turn of the century, it would have helped to restore public confidence in the inquiry process if a broader Commission was established to probe the fire, its causes and consequences.

But the PPPC works in mysterious ways. It opted for three eminent jurists to conduct the inquiry into the elections imbroglio but has seemingly downgraded the COI into the Mahdia fire to a one-person inquiry. A more diverse panel would have brought different expertise and perspectives to the inquiry process. Certainly a fire-fighting expert should have been a part of the panel constituting the COI. Nonetheless, whoever is selected should be impartial and fair and have a demonstrated track record in this regard. But there is also another important qualification. The inquiry is likely to have to pronounce on responsibility for the fire, including the possibility of ministerial responsibility.

In order to avoid any accusations of a possible or potential conflict of interest, it is advisable for the Commissioner or Commissioners selected to have not had a professional affiliation with the government. This is all the more so since ministerial action or inaction is likely to be a subject of the inquiry. One editorial has suggested that a Minister has a case to answer by virtue of receiving a report about the state of the dormitory. If Ministers are likely to be called as witnesses or their actions placed under the microscope, it is not desirable to have someone who either worked or works with the President or the government to part of the inquiry.

This is not a judgment against the integrity of partiality of anyone but is simply a means of boosting public confidence in the final report by ensuring that allegations of a conflict of interest cannot be attributed to the COI process.

That said, it must be accepted that there have been no complaints about the person who it is believed will head the inquiry. But given the national importance of this inquiry, a broader panel of persons would have been more advisable. Equally important are the terms of reference of the COI. It will cause public consternation if the terms of reference are too narrow. The fire was a national tragedy and the implications go beyond the issue of who set the fire and whether the girls were locked it.  There are wider concerns including the management of the dormitory, the actions which could have been taken to prevent this tragedy and the response to the tragedy itself.

Whether such a wide-ranging inquiry can be left to one person is left to be seen. It is more than six weeks since the fire. Having waited so long for the President to honor his pledge to appoint a COI, it can do little harm for the public to wait a little longer for a larger and more diverse panel to be appointed to undertake the inquiry.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

---

• Commission of Inquiry, fire, Mahdia, Mahdia Secondary School, Peeping Tom, traumatised

---