By Svetana Marshall
The Commission of Inquiry (CoI), which spent more than two months investigating the circumstances surrounding the Mahdia School Dormitory Fire, handed over its report to President Irfaan Ali this afternoon.
The COI’s Chairman, Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh said the devastating fire which claimed the lives of 20 children last May, was as a result of arson – confirming earlier reports by the Guyana Fire Service and the Guyana Police Force.
He said the report is the outcome of two visits by the Commission to Mahdia and neighbouring villages in Region 8, where the victims lived, and testimonies from 29 witnesses – 14 of whom provided written statements in addition to a number of reports.
Major General Singh said the Commission was able to gather sufficient, credible evidence to ensure that its findings fulfil its mandate as defined in the gazetted Terms of Reference.
It was noted that the Commission’s findings are based on evidence and expert reports received regarding the investigation on the circumstances and the cause of fire.
“Based on the evidence, we concluded that an individual intentionally set the fire. In summary, and notwithstanding the appalling act of arson, we determined that the evidence and circumstance leaving up to, and the causes of the Mahdia Female Dormitory Fire were an unfortunate outcome of several factors – the influence of the mining culture on social relations within communities, the vulnerability of youth, in particular, teenage female students, the influence of adults in the mining sector, who groom young females, and in some cases with the tacit support of family members, who benefit financially from such arrangements,” Major General (Ret’d) Singh said.
A 15-year girl is currently facing 20 murder charges over the deaths of her schoolmates in the fire.
The COI Chairman said the Commission found that Fire Service and Education Officials were negligent in the execution of their mandate.
He said while the hearings uncovered several inadequacies with regards to the lack of firefighting resources at the dorm, it was agreed that a better equipped dorm would not have delivered a different result due to the cause of the fire.
“We found there was a delay in contacting and or seeking the assistance of the Mahdia Fire Station. Issues such as crowd control and access to the dormitory compound encountered by the fire service on route to the fire, inadequacies of the Mahdia Fire Service in rescue and firefighting equipment and the lack of available water supply to fight the fire. These factors assisted with the speed of the conflagration,” the COI Chairman said.
He said the report contains recommendations and measures to address the issues that ledto the fire. It has also recommended that a memorial be erected at the site of fire to remember the 20 lives lost.
President Ali, in receiving the report, also called for behavioural change among communities.
“We have to be honest to ourselves, we have to change the culture. Culture is an important part of some of the problems we are facing in our society. The Ministry of Education, today, is faced with tremendous difficulties in the behavioural pattern and changes in many schools, and we now have to work and see how we incorporate a higher degree of discipline through a systemic intervention. One in which we will have counselling, moulding, even before we get to counselling, because many times counselling is an after fact. How do we do moulding of our young people and that is an important aspect of what we have to do,” the President reasoned.
The President said the Government is working on a robust implementation plan to improve facilities within both the Education and Health sectors, and will incorporate the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry.
He said already steps are being taken to improve fire prevention in the country. He also committed to the establishment of memorial at the site of the fire.
The President also used the opportunity to thank the Ministers of Education, Local Government, Public Service, Health as well as the firefighters and nurses who responding to the national disaster.
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