Chief Education Officer (CEO) Saddam Hussain today told the Mahdia Commission of Inquiry (COI) that the Region 8 Regional Education Officer (REDO) Anesta Douglas was reassigned after it was found that she failed to submit a report to the Education Ministry on a fire inspection that was done at the Mahdia Secondary School Dormitories three months before the deadly fire which claimed the lives of 20 children.

 The report, which was compiled by the Officer in Charge of the Mahdia Fire Station and submitted to the Chief Fire Officer on February 7, 2023, was reportedly copied to the then Regional Education Officer. It identified the urgent need for fire detectors and fire extinguishers to be installed in the dorms, as well as the need for the grills to be removed from the windows of the dorms. 

As he took the witness box today, the Chief Education Officer told the Commission that upon receiving the report, Douglas should have forwarded a copy to the Deputy Chief Education Officer (Administration) but that was never done.

He said the report never reached his office.

“We can’t do anything if we never saw the report. And so, this was one of the final straws that caused us to move this REDO…,” the CEO said while adding “I am not throwing my officer under the bus; I am not doing that but I am saying that this should have been a part of the system. This is clear, listed here, it should have happened.”

But while the Chief Education Officer sought to shift blame, telling the Commission that it is the Ministry of Local Government that has full responsibility for the maintenance of educational institutions, and facilities such as dorms in the 10 Administrative Regions, Counsel to the Commission, Keoma Griffith pointed out that a UNICEF funded report, which was submitted to the Education Ministry in May 2022 and was laid before Cabinet, highlighted the same issues more than a year before.

“There were no fire detection systems, grills were seen on the windows, no exit signs, there weren’t any fire extinguishers, no smoke detectors. Really, and truly many of the recommendations made in the UNICEF report of 2022, and an inspection done in February 2023, indicated that there was non-compliance with a number of the recommendations made in the UNICEF Report of 2022,” Griffith submitted to the CEO.

Admitting that there was non-compliance with the recommendations outlined in the UNICEF Report, Hussain, in his more than two hour-long testimony, maintained that the Ministry of Education was not aware of the contents of the report submitted by the Fire Officer.

Earlier in his testimony, the Chief Education Officer said the UNICEF funded report did not identify the need for fire prevention equipment to be installed in the dorms, and noted that the Mahdia dorms were not among the top five dorms that required urgent attention.

“Based on the very report, which has brought so much debate and contention, that very report says that Mahdia was not one of the top priorities to be addressed. In fact, Mahdia had one issue, and that is with a constant supply of electricity and water. Secondly, in that very report, the conduct of that report involved the stakeholder of that dormitory to give their views on what was needed, the students – male, female – the headteacher of the school, the dormitory staff, and in that report, you will find that none of them said, that there were issues with fire extinguishers, fire-fighting tools,” Hussain said.

But while reading sections of the report, the Counsel to the Commission pointed out that the report had clearly outlined the need for fire exit signs to be placed in both dorms as well as other fire prevention equipment.

“It says one smoke detector shall be installed in every room, and in corridors, fire alarm systems, fire extinguishers,” Attorney Griffith pointed out, while pressing Hussain for answers on whether or not the recommendations were acted upon as at May 2023 when the fire occurred.

“I would not know, I don’t believe that they were, but I would not specifically know,” the Chief Education Officer responded.

In his Ministry’s defence, he told the Commission that at the time of the report, the National Budget was already approved, and the report called for some $3 Billion in repairs and modifications to school dorms.

He said using resources available, the Ministry began to act on the report.

He said from 2022 to date, $882M has been expended to upgrade and expand dorms across the country in keeping with the UNICEF Funded report.

All the dorms now have fire prevention features including alarms and smoke detectors as well as extinguishers.

He said in addition to the $882M, the Education Ministry also spent $79 million to provide critical assistance to those who were affected.

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