Major General (Ret’d) Joseph Singh will lead the commission of inquiry (CoI) into the fatal Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire, President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced.
Ali made the announcement on the sidelines of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) forum at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
At present, he said, while they are finalising the terms of reference for the commission of inquiry he is also preparing to meet with the affected families. This meeting is to iron out issues that were raised.
“I have a meeting before the end of this week with the team. I can tell you I have identified Major General [retired], Joe Singh to lead that team. I have a meeting with him before the end of this week,” Ali stated.
Following the tragedy, Ali had made the commitment to establish a full-fledged commission of inquiry into the death of the 19 girls and 5-year-old boy. His commitment came after numerous calls from civil society for a CoI into the devastating fire that swept through the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory on the evening of May 21 and claimed the lives of 20 children while injuring others and leaving several hinterland communities in deep sorrow.
“We are… committed to establishing a commission of inquiry to investigate the causes and circumstances of the fire which destroyed the dormitory, and to inquire into related issues. This will be done soonest. The findings of that inquiry will inform the way forward,” President Ali said at Lethem last month in his address to celebrate Guyana’s 57th Independence Anniversary.
Alluding to what may possibly constitute the key objective of the CoI’s Terms of Reference, Ali asked, “What do we do in the face of this tragedy? We must use it to move us to a better place. To uplift our thinking and rededicate our efforts to this nation. We must learn from the circumstances. We must,” he said, “evaluate the consequences, and we must determine a path to avoid such reoccurrence.”
The May 21 fire claimed the lives of Sherana Daniels, twin sisters Mary and Martha Dandrade, Bibi Rita Jeffrey, Sabrina John, Loreen Evans, Belnisa Evans, Omefia Edwin, Natalie Bellarmine, Andrea Roberts, Lorita Williams, Nickleen Robinson, Sherena Daniels, Eulanda Carter, Lisa Roberts, Cleoma Simon, Tracil Thomas, and sisters Delecia Edwards and Arianna Edwards along with five-year-old Adonijah Jerome, the son of the caretaker. A number of them hailed from villages outside of Mahdia.
