Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain on Tuesday directed his ire at photo-journalists for not showing sensitivity following the Mahdia dormitory fire which claimed 20 lives on May 21.
He took aim at the media during day eight of the public hearing of the presidential CoI into the tragic incident. “I am 110 per cent sure that no minister instructed any photographers to take their pictures with the families and friends of the victims [who perished in the fire].
The senior ministry official was responding to Commission Counsel, Keoma Griffith, who asked, “How do you take the comments from the public that it was seemingly inappropriate for the Ministry of Education and other government officials to be taking photos with the family of the victims at a vigil held at Umana Yana?”
To which he replied, “For me to respond to that question is to acknowledge that the ministers or any government functionary are devoid of emotions, and certainly they are not, it was a tragedy and it was necessary for them to be sad at that point.”
“I have a son who is the same age as the boy who perished in the fire and I as the CEO [Chief Education Officer] was in deep shock; I honestly could not process what happened.” Hussain told the inquiry.
“But that doesn’t give the media the right to take our photos,” he further stated.
Asked by the inquiry’s counsel if the subject ministry had issued any advisory that discretion and sensitivity should be observed in light of the circumstances, the CEO responded in the negative and contended that the media should have known better.
“We are tired of telling the media how to take or treat matters involving children; they should know better. When we have national grade six assessment, we have to pull the children in the corner all because sometimes the media doesn’t know how to approach the situation.”
“The media should really undergo training in that regard,” Hussain opined.
The Chief Education Officer continued to ridicule the media and suggested also, that the use of commonsense was paramount in these circumstances. Griffith again asked if the education ministry at any point had interjected and advised that the media desist from these actions. He again replied in the negative.
The Commission members seemed taken aback at Hussain’s reply but did not pursue the subject any further as it was already approaching the lunch hour.
Questions were also raised about who coordinated the candle-light vigil at the Umana Yana, in Kingston, Georgetown to which the CEO acknowledged that it was the Ministry of Education.
The vigil held on May 24 saw the attendance of Head of State, President Irfaan Ali and Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, among other government officials.
It is noteworthy that photos were taken by the Office of the President which showed the President and government officials consoling the sobbing families of the victims while at the vigil. Ironically, the same photos which Husssin complained about were evidently posted by several government officials who attended the vigil.
Moreover, Prime Minister, Mark Phillips; the Minister of Education and Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn, who visited the affected students and distressed families following the tragedy were also seen in photos taken by the Department of Public Information (DPI).
The counsel also asked if government officials and the children who were injured in the fire came by request or were invited, Hussein informed that they came voluntarily.
“No one was forced nor instructed to come, they all came because they acknowledged that lives were lost,” he asserted.
Hussein also reminded the inquiry of the government’s $5 million in financial aid to the affected families of the victims. According to him, an additional $79 million was given to those affected and faced with expenses.
In an invited comment on Hussain’s remarks, the Editor-in-Chief of Stabroek News, Anand Persaud said that the only people to be blamed for the exposure of the Mahdia children on the night of the vigil were the government officials who unthinkingly paraded them in front of dozens of people at the Umana Yana. While photographs were in the main circulated by the state media at the behest of their controllers, Persaud said that even the exposure of the clearly traumatized children – some of them with visible injuries – in front of strangers at the Umana Yana which was lit with candles was callous and insensible. Persaud said the decision was clearly made by government officials as part of the campaign to purge their conscience and they are the ones to be blamed.
