By Antonio Dey
Former Regional Educa-tion Officer (REdO) of Potaro-Siparuni, Anesta Douglas yesterday told the presidential inquiry into the Mahdia dormitory fire that it was impossible for her to review a key report submitted by the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) months before the blaze since she was given just one week’s notice to pack for Georgetown.
Douglas, who has been reassigned to the Depart-ment of Education in Georgetown, told the inquiry that she received a report on February 7th this year, from the Sub- Officer following an inspection conducted at the school’s female dormitory.
The report which highlighted the inadequacies at the Mahdia secondary school dormitory was deemed as a matter of urgency by Scott, which the REdO said she acknowledged but was engrossed in other work-related tasks.
During that inspection, Scott pointed out the lack of fire alarms and smoke detectors in the building which was detailed in his after-action report calling for these corrective measures to be in place at the facility in event of any fire.
“Mr Scott delivered this report to me on the 7th of February. I received them and I placed it into my urgent dip. When Mr Scott bought the report, he said to me ‘sorry to be late, let us see what we can do with the recommendation,’” Douglas told the inquiry during its 9th public hearing.
According to the her the inspection report was an addition to the plethora of other reports submitted to her all at the same time.
Resultantly she placed the report in an ‘urgent dip’ file on her desk since her superior Regional Executive Officer (REO), Peter Ramotar was not in office at the time for her to submit this report.
Asked what prevented the Department of Educa-tion from taking immediate action in light of the report which detailed the need for the grills to be removed from the dormitory along with the installation of smoke detectors, fire hydrants, Douglas said that on February 8, she was told of her reassignment to the Georgetown Department by Principal Personnel Officer Louise Armstrong.
Douglas, a former Senior Mistress at Skeldon Line Path Secondary School (East Corentyne-Berbice) served as the REdO for Region Three, but was eventually reassigned to the Ministry of Education in January 2022 where she operated at Mahdia, Region Eight.
According to her the reassignment was demoralising as many times she showed up at work not knowing what to do nor knowing where her work station was.
“Miss Armstrong told me, REdO, you are going to be transferred to Georgetown right away. I was in disbelief as I started remembering what happened to me in 2021 when I was reassigned, I started to relive the pain of 2021 because this report should have been discussed with the REO upon receipt,” the visibly emotional woman told the inquiry.
“When I was removed and I went to central ministry, they didn’t know where to put me… I was going back and forth… I endured one year of humiliation, mental pain, and hurt and I sat at that desk under harsh conditions.”
She told the Commission that she pleaded for her one-week transition to be extended to one month in accordance with the policy under the Public Service Commission.
This was however denied as the former REO was told that she had to leave Mahdia following an official letter to her on February 9th by her supervisor stating her reassignment to Georgetown.
She informed the inquiry that the department which she worked in was understaffed causing her to be overwhelmed by tasks.
“Did you understand from this report that urgent action was needed? Did you understand it had to do with lives and it was your failure to act that resulted in the lives of 20 children?” CoI counsel Keoma Griffith asked.
She responded, “I did not get the chance to read that report until recently before I testified before this commission and I will not accept that it was my failure which resulted in the lives of those children, it is the first time I am reading the report… I would really appreciate if you would allow me to explain.”
Douglas explained that her focus was shifted after she learnt of her reassignment.
According to her, during the handing over of her office she submitted the urgency of the report to the Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Shaun Britton.
However, Britton in his testimony denied receiving any report from Douglas when she handed over her office on February 15.
“All I received were her documents, keys, and other government property from Douglas when she handed over her office”.
According to the Deputy REdO, the REdO [ Douglas] did not inform him of the report’s urgency.
“I did go through the folders and I didn’t see anything of urgent importance,” Britton said.
“The first time I saw this document [officer Scott’s after-action report] was the morning of the fire… in fact when I received a call about this report, I started my own probe.”
Asked by Commissioner Kim Kyte-Thomas if the report was brought to his attention and if any actions were taken considering Scott’s plea for it to be deemed urgent, the Deputy REdO said that the necessary actions were taken in that regard [which obviously produced no result since the grills were not removed nor were the necessary fire equipment in place prior to the Mahdia dorm fire].
“My first thing would have been to call the regional engineer and the region is fortunate to have two engineers so if one is in the field… another is available… So would ask them to look at the issue at prepare a bill,” according to Britton.
Night of the Mahdia fire
Britton said that on the night of the tragedy he received a call from Education Officer Kim Douglas who alerted him that “the dorm was on fire.”
The shocked Deputy REdO upon hearing this, contacted GFS Official Ryan Scott to inform him of the incident to which he (Scott) said that the fire service was already informed and, on their way, to attend to the situation.
When Britton arrived, Scott told him that several students were trapped in the building.
At this point he became disconcerted and he immediately contacted a medical official at the Mahdia Hospital to dispatch a medical team immediately as injured persons were seen being carried out of the blazing building.
He described the situation as chaotic as many police and fire-fighters were doing their best to de-escalate the situation which felt “like a movie.”
Britton, who by this time was in tears, told the inquiry that he was deeply hurt after learning the death of the students as a result of the fire.
“I saw the dorm father [Steve Jerome] crying for his son along with other parents.”
