Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton yesterday stressed that they will not relent in their call for an independent commission of inquiry to be carried out into the Mahdia dormitory fire and according to him $5m is not enough compensation for each of the families of the victims.
At his weekly press conference yesterday, Norton charged that the “government deployed several devious and heartless ploys to avoid taking full responsibility and to brush the matter under the carpet.”
He stated, “Most recently, Guyanese across the social and political spectrum joined in condemning the insulting act by the government to offer the parents the stingy financial compensation and to coerce or intimidate them into signing documents absolving the government from any future potential claims for liability and injury.”
According to him, through the judicial system, Guyanese are sometimes awarded $20m or more for libel and defamation, as such he added, that “it is therefore ridiculous for the government to offer $5m per person for the loss of life.”
He declared that “Life cannot be that cheap in a country where the government squanders billions of tax payers’ money.”
The Opposition Leader also pointed out that to date, the government has failed to constitute the long-awaited commission of inquiry into the May 21st fire that claimed 20 lives. “There can be no excuse for the delay. Several organizations, including the parliamentary opposition, have publicized detailed TORs and there are several well-qualified and professional Guyanese and Caricom nationals who can sit on such a commission”, he said.
He then urged the Guyanese populace to see the delay for what it is, “an act by a government that is interested in its own political self-preservation at any cost—one that has no sense of morality, integrity, and duty but to itself.”
Furthermore, he stressed, that his party will not relent until an independent commission of inquiry is established.
“Until all those responsible in the PPP Cabinet are held accountable. Until all corrective measures are identified and implemented across the country for similar facilities. Until justice for the dead Mahdia children and their parents is served. We owe it to the dead and to the wider society to hold the government accountable for what is clearly their incompetence and lack of care for the nation’s children”, Norton thundered.
The government has said that Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh will head the inquiry. It is still to say whether there will be other members and why it is taking so long for the probe to be set up.
