Mahdia dorm fire donations: PSC still deciding how to utilise monies collected – Past Chairman

…Says donations were not from the public

Some days after the Private Sector Commission (PSC) was placed in the spotlight regarding funds that were raised by the commission to bring relief to the Mahdia dorm fire victims and families, immediate past chairman of the PSC Komal Singh recently set the record straight about the usage of the funds raised by the organisation.
Two years after the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire claimed the lives of 20 children, it was revealed that nearly $30 million in donations collected by the PSC were never disbursed to the families.

The 2024 report of the PSC revealed that under the Chairmanship of the immediate past Chairman the Komal Singh; the organisation accumulated $29,941,375 under the designation “Contributions for Mahdia Fire Relief.” However, to date none of these funds has been distributed to the victims’ families or applied to any relief efforts.
In this regard, Singh, during a recent edition of the Guyana Dialogue programme, cleared the air surrounding the usage of these funds. According to Singh, the almost $30 Million in funds raised was donated by members of the commission and not members of the public.
“Let me just say briefly on this matter let me just clarify some stuff; the money that was donated to support or to help when that incident occurred, was money donated by the members of the Private Sector commission and not the public.”
On this point, the past Chairman revealed that from the time the monies were collected to date, the commission is yet to decide what is the best way these funds can be utilised to not only benefit individuals but the community at large.
“Over the last two years, we have deliberated on how we should address that issue and spend that money wisely to make sure that not just an individual but the community benefited from it. The last two council meetings prior to my departure, we are actually very close on making a decision because there was a number of proposals that came onto the table by our members.”
Singh added, “We’ve got quite a bit of suggestions, which we were deliberating over the last two council meetings. At this point in time, I would say maybe within another council meeting, this new executive will be making a decision on which road to go on that matter.” Moreover, Singh also shut down speculations that the funds raised were put to personal use. In this regard he noted that with the new council in place, members of the public will soon be notified on the usage of the funds. “This is not the money that was received by our members and was tucked away in some account privately; [neither] myself [nor] somebody else from the executive thought it was a gift to any one of us. It was money received. It was money accounted for legitimately and transparently in the financial statement of the private sector commission. The money is intended to be spent within the three communities that was affected in some shape or form that will either benefit the families directly or maybe benefit the villages at large, and we’re close to making a decision right now. And the new council will make that decision and publicly notify,” he asserted. The Mahdia dormitory fire in Guyana was one of the most tragic incidents in Guyana’s history that occurred on May 21, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 20 individuals, including 19 students and a 5-year-old boy.
The fire was deliberately set by a 15-year-old student who had been upset after her mobile phone was confiscated. The teenager was later charged with 20 counts of murder and is currently being held at a juvenile detention centre pending trial.