Prime Minister Mark Phillips participated yesterday in a ceremony at Micobie, Region Eight, to commemorate the lives of the 20 children who tragically perished due to a fire at the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory one year ago. Twelve of the children were from Micobie.
In his remarks, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s pledge to take concrete actions to safeguard children and prevent such tragedies from occurring again.
“Let us together honour the memory of our lost children by building a nation that truly values and protects its most vulnerable”, he said, according to a release from the Office of the Prime Minister.
The May 20 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.
The government has been criticized for forcing a paltry assistance scheme on the parents of the deceased.
A Commission of Inquiry mounted into the fire has also been rapped for not addressing culpability and letting key officials off the hook.
