Mahdia fire tragedy: CoI panel to be sworn-in next week – VP

The much-anticipated Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the deadly Mahdia fire is set to commence soon, with the investigating panel expected to be sworn-in next week.
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed, during a press conference on Thursday, that President Dr Irfaan Ali will be swearing in the CoI panel on Wednesday.
It was previously announced that Major General (retired) Joseph Singh would be leading the CoI, for which the Government had been working on finalising the Terms of Reference (ToRs). Singh served as Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Presidential Advisor and Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). He is the current chairperson of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF).
The May 21, 2023 inferno at the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) killed 20 female students between the ages of 12 and 17, and a five-year-old boy who was the son of the dorm parents.
Days after the horrific incident, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) disclosed that the fire was allegedly started by a 15-year-old student who also lived at the dorm, after her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher.
The teen suspect has since appeared at the Diamond/ Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts, and was not required to plead to the murder charges. Magistrate Sunil Scarce has ordered that she be held at a juvenile holding centre pending the trial.
The Mahdia dorm facility housed about 59 students from the communities of Karisparu, El Paso, Micobie and Chenapau. Information from the Guyana Fire Service indicated that 14 youths died at the scene of the fire, while five died at the Mahdia District Hospital, and one succumbed while being treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC).
The girls who perished in the fire are: Sherana Daniels, Subrina John, Belnisa Evans, Loreen Evans, Bibi Rita Fiona Jeffrey, Lisa Roberts, Tracil Thomas, Delecia Edwards, Lorita Williams, Natalie Bellarmine, Arianna Edwards, Cleoma Simon, Martha Dandrade, Mary Dandrade, Omerfia Edwin, Nickleen Robinson, Sherlyn Bellarmine, Eulander Carter and Andrea Roberts.
Adanye Jerome, the five-year-old son of the dorm mother, was also among those who passed.
Apart from the CoI, President Ali had announced that the victims’ families would be compensated by the State, and offered short-, medium- and long-term support, including from mental health professionals.
Moreover, Government announced last month that in addition to medical and mental health support, $5 million would be provided to the families of each of the 20 children who died in the fire.
However, the Government has faced some criticism for the approach adopted in aiding the affected families.
The Amerindian Peoples Association (APA) recently issued a statement regarding what they called a “rush” to settle all possible claims as “disrespectful.” The APA also claimed that families were coerced into signing settlement agreements absolving the State of all liability, and that the monetary assistance can influence the impending Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
These allegations were rubbished by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, who travelled to Mahdia earlier this week to meet with families and community members affected by the deadly fire. He reassured that the CoI would work independently to investigate the dormitory fire.
“The CoI has an amplitude of power, based upon the terms of reference, to make findings based upon the evidence that will be presented to it. It’s totally unrelated, and will be totally unaffected by what the Government is offering as a form of financial assistance…
“The CoI, if they wish, may take that into account, but that is a matter completely within the remit and jurisdiction of the CoI members,” the AG noted.
According to Nandlall, Government’s financial assistance to persons affected by the Mahdia fire tragedy is not aimed at compensating those families for their losses.
“I made it very, very clear that if the Government is to offer hundreds of millions of dollars, it will not be appropriate compensation for the loss of any child…. There is no compensation being paid or offered. Compensation is a legal terminology which connotes that there is an acceptance of blame or culpability, or there is a finding of blame or culpability by a tribunal of competent jurisdiction. None of those things have happened,” he contended.
The Attorney General has also called for persons to stop politicizing the Mahdia fire tragedy. (G8)