Dear Editor,
The leaders of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) holds the responsibility of those 20 Mahdia Dorm fire victims in their hands. The collective failure of the PPP/C leadership to gain insight from the burning of other educational and government facilities, and the concomitant failure to institute appropriate measures to reduce fire-related risks, make them culpable for those deaths.
Sometime between 1980 and early 1983, a contractor mistake resulted in the collapse of the reinforced concrete canopy of the Palm Tree Cinema on Burnham Drive. The incorrectly positioned reinforcement bars prevented the broken concrete structure from falling to the ground. Winston Springer, the then Deputy Superintendent of the Guymine Engi-neering Department (commonly known as “The Drawing Office”), took the entire drawing staff on a field trip to the site of the collapsed canopy. The objective of the visit was for us, as technicians, to learn valuable lessons from what was a construction error, with a view to reducing the chances of the same blunder being repeated.
While we were not responsible for the design of buildings, some senior draughtsmen performed the duties of Clerk of Works on construction sites and Springer wanted to make sure that such mistakes could be identified and stopped before they resulted in tragedy. In the words of President Obama, the structural failure was used as a “teachable moment.” We notice this practice in the aviation industry. Leaders and professionals in the sector have used past air disasters to significantly improve air travel and the safety of the flying public. They learn from the past.
Before the Mahdia Dorm inferno, at least eight educational institutions were damaged and/or destroyed by fire. This occurred over a 16-year period, during which five children were burnt to death – three in 2008 and two in 2016. The latter happened when the Coalition was in power. It is not unusual to hear that a fire was “electrical in nature,” as was the case in the St. George’s Secondary, the L’Aventure Secondary and the Umana Yana fires. That being the case, was any order issued for a comprehensive review of schools and government buildings to assess the state of their electrical wiring?
Furthermore, it was reported in the media that the Guyana Fire Service had issued “a list of fire safety requirements to be implemented at schools to reduce the risks associated with fires.” This was, reportedly, done back in February, some three months before the Mahdia Dorm fire. Did the leaders take steps to enforce compliance with the requirements given by the professionals? After 16 years, eight “school” fires and five deaths, what lessons did the leaders learn? What steps were taken, at the policy level and/or the operational level, to “reduce the risks associated with fires?” What insights were gained from the previous “school” fires and what guidelines and/or measures were developed and implemented to prevent the Mahdia Dorm fire deaths?
In a speech titled, “Leadership is responsibility, not power,” Robert L. Joss, former Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, asserted “Too many leaders get caught up in thinking about power rather than their responsibility to those they lead.” Ultimately, the safety of the nation’s children is the responsibility of the nation’s leaders. Where is the evidence that those in office “did everything in their power” to honour that sacred trust to protect the nation’s children? Editor, the hands of the PPP/C leadership are stained with the deaths of those innocent children. May their souls rest in peace. And, may the God of all comfort the hearts of their grieving relatives.
Sincerely,
Remington F. Nelson
