Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, May 26 marks another year of our Independence and I wish you and all Guyanese a Happy and Thoughtful Independence Day.

Dear Editor, Every seller of cacotopian oil spill nightmares is asking for billions of USD of spill insurance for the Stabroek block development operator, most, if not all, ignore the fact that payment of this policy is added to the cost of oil and is fully recoverable by the operator.

Dear Editor, The road to independence was fraught with much intrigues.

Dear Editor, Your editorial of 24 May (Mahdia tragedy, https://www.stabroeknews.com/2023/05/24/opinion/editorial/mahdia-tragedy/) on the horrific deaths of 19 children in a dormitory fire on Sunday night (and other children who are seriously burnt, all the children scarred for life) reminded us of the government’s serial failures to learn from the earlier deaths of three schoolgirls in Waramadong Secondary School dormitory in August 2008 and the fire that razed the boys’ dormitory of the Bartica Secondary School 8 months earlier in December 2007.

Dear Editor, We reflect on the risks involved as ExxonMobil drills through ~2,000 metres of water (>1 mile) and ~3,700 metres (> 2 miles) of rock to get to the petroleum and associated gas located under the weight of such pressure in Guyana’s offshore territory. 

Dear Editor, Your 24 May 2023, editorial fails on a number of fronts: First, hindsight is 20/20.

Dear Editor, No one can replace a child who died. No one can erase the helpless horror of parents who live the final terrified moments of their children’s lives as the fire roasts and smokes them to death.

Dear Editor, As we observe another Independence Day in Guyana, there is nothing to celebrate.

Dear Editor, Our nation has lost nineteen young lives and we are all grieving for their innocent lost.

Dear Editor, They stood by you but you could not stand vigil, hold a candle and say a silent prayer for them. 

Dear Editor, According to our country’s fire safety regulations GCP 9-3 Fire Safety, code of practice for buildings part 3: Fire safety use and occupancy (from 2005) 5.1.1.5, a school is considered an Occupancy Group A-4 structure.

Dear Editor, Things all dormitories, orphanages, and shelters where children are housed must have: 1.

Dear Editor, Probably, it has taken hundreds of thousands and perhaps trillions of words, printed and spoken nationally and internationally, to explain how and why the nineteen school children perished along with the nine who have been hospitalized as a result of the fiery conflagration that ripped through the girl’s secondary school dormitory at Mahdia, at Region 8.

Dear Editor, On behalf of the World Trade Centers’ Association and myself, I am reaching out as we hear the horrible news of fire at the dormitory in Georgetown on May 22nd that took so many young lives. 

Dear Editor, Where is God in all our tragedies as a multi-cultural society? 

Dear Editor, Much has been written on the Mahdia fire tragedy thus it may be superfluous to pile up on the various outpourings of anger and grief, however, my experiences with the concerned authorities has been horrible.

Dear Editor, As I reflect on today’s tragedy, I cannot help but raise the question of development and equity in our country.

Dear Editor, The Mahdia students’ heart-wrenching tragedy that made international headlines must jolt all Guyana to be fire-safety conscious, and major reforms must be implemented for fire prevention, firefighting, and building codes.

Dear Editor, In a ‘eureka’ moment that must rank up there with the discovery of the new world by Columbus, GHK Lall has declared “ExxonMobil USA is going to come up with some innovative way to stick the cost of that unlimited parent company guarantee right back at Guyana” (SN 21.05.23) while I am happy the light bulb has come on for GHK, my optimism is somewhat tempered as to its brightness by the fact that any schoolchild could tell him that there is no need for ‘Exxon innovation’, the term ‘cost oil’ means the cost to produce oil; costs that are borne directly by Guyana, and insurance falls squarely into that category.

Dear Editor, The Liberty and Justice Party extends its most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the deceased.