While there is much more to be done to respond to the trauma and grief that have enveloped the families of the 19 children who perished in the fire at Mahdia two Sundays ago, equally important is the establishment of accountability for what happened.
Accountability in governance is the hallmark by which those in charge keep their end of the bargain with the people who put them there. Failure to be accountable breaches this covenant between the electors and the elected.
Revelling in the oil riches that rolled in when they entered government in August 2020 – with the help of many after the rigging of the elections – the PPP/C government has developed an aura of invincibility and this is reflected in complacency and arrogance as it relates to accountability and the spending of coin.
Whenever it has been put under pressure over failings, it either ignores the problem – as in the case of the Home Affairs Ministry Permanent Secretary – or presents itself as if it is the injured party and immune to interrogation. President Ali’s Independence address reflected some of this. While striking the right tone as it related to the tragedy and the need for the country to come together he also targeted unnamed critics.
After heralding the work of the pilots and the emergency services on the night of May 21 and thereafter, the President said: “Sadly and disgustingly, there are isolated and discredited elements within our midst that are determined to use this tragedy to foment further division and to stir instability. But I am confident that the good people of Guyana will not be distracted by the rabble-rousers and antagonists. I am confident that their nefarious aims will not find much traction in our society.
“This is not the time for division. This is a time for our people to come together and to support the victims, their families, and communities”.
Who are these “elements” the President referred to and what did they say? One could not say with any certitude but the language suggests that he was speaking about the opposition which has begun to make calls for accountability.
If it was the fact that the opposition called for the resignation of ministers over the tragedy then that was perfectly in order and required some considered response from the presidency. It is par for the course in established and functioning democracies that ministers take responsibility for such tragedies. In other places there would be immediate resignations, suspension from office or even dismissal. PPP/C governments have treated ministerial appointments of its adherents as jobs for the entire term which in itself defeats accountability. Approaching three years in office not a single minister has been displaced or reshuffled even though there could have been good reason for such.
The President could also have been referring to the torrent of criticism over the presence of the traumatised survivors of the Mahdia tragedy at a candlelight vigil at the Umana Yana just after some of them had been flown to a strange city. That criticism was well in order. Whoever decided to place the girls at the vigil showed absolutely no common sense or empathy. If the mental health advisors and trauma counsellors in the ministries were able to provide their views without fear of being punished they would all have advised against such a move. (As an aside, did the government really have to waste millions of dollars to ferry dozens of people into Mahdia and Lethem for these observances? Surely that money would have been better spent on the Dharm Shala and other homes for the indigent.)
On a daily basis, citizens have to navigate government failures which put their lives at risk. Whether it is the broken stair that leads from a speedboat to a stelling, an exposed steel rod on a construction site or an unlicensed boat ferrying passengers on the stormy Essequibo. Oftentimes the danger is circumvented and all is well. In other cases there is loss of life. The destruction by fire of the dorm has exposed some of the typical government failings. The person accused of starting the fire will have to face the courts and be prosecuted based on the law. However, those who have accountability for immovable grills on windows, inappropriate construction material, the absence of fire exits and the assigning of one dorm mother to 60 girls must also provide answers and if they are unable to do so action should be taken against them.
To its credit the fire service in Mahdia had twice raised concerns about the grills and as recently as February this year. Nothing was done. Answers must now come from the Ministries of Education, Home Affairs, Local Government and Regional Development and the Region Eight administration.
Where the two main parties are concerned accountability is only important when they are in opposition. The hypocrisy of both will be evident for all in the public to witness.
On March 3rd, 2016, when 17 prisoners died in a fire after a riot at the Camp Street prison, the then opposition PPP/C instantly called for the resignation of Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan. This call came even though Mr Ramjattan had been in office for less than a year. Clearly the PPP/C was expecting ministerial accountability.
Then PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee – who had been the holder of Mr Ramjattan’s portfolio up to May, 2015, told a press conference on March 7, 2016 that “If there is one recommendation Mr (David) Granger has consciously overlooked it is the dismissal of Prakash Ramjattan as the Minister of Public Security of this country. Lying at the feet of Ramjattan and indeed the Granger administration are 17, not three dead bodies”.
Mr Rohee went further: “The Granger administration stands condemned. Heads must roll for this unforgiveable and unforgettable episode in the hierarchy of the security sector in general and the Prison Service, in particular”.
A year later, when the entire prison burnt down and now-again on the lam, Royden Williams fled after apparently engineering the conflagration, the PPP/C unsuccessfully moved a motion in Parliament where speakers – including the current minister of education, the minister of labour and the minister of parliamentary affairs – called again for Mr Ramjattan to go. Incidentally, who in the PPP/C administration will now be held accountable for Williams’ second escape and the danger posed to national security?
The people of this country want efficient and responsive governance. Where that fails and contributes to disasters like that on May 21 there must be accountability. The labelling of critics as “rabble-rousers” is an attempt to escape from such accountability.
