GUYANA | Adam’s notebook: Keeping everyone uninformed

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, July 24, 2024 - Just over a year ago Guyana’s worst dormitory disaster occurred at Mahdia. Twenty children died in what was said to be a blaze set by a resident of the dormitory. There was an arrest and detention of the alleged arsonist.

She was a minor so she was held in a juvenile detention centre. Following the fire President Irfaan Ali set up a commission of inquiry. Headed by retired Chief of Staff Major General Joe Singh, the commission noted many things.

Some of the findings were strange. Blame was apportioned to the David Granger administration that had demitted office two years earlier. The Commission claimed that it had failed to implement the findings of a report done by former Chief Education Officer Ed Caesar.

The present government was in no way responsible for the fire and the loss of life.

The Commission continued, “We find the fact that no action was taken in relation to dormitory facilities was a grave neglect of duty bordering on recklessness by the persons vested with power during that period for the care and welfare of the country’s children residing in dormitories.”

It continued, “The magnitude of neglect which was inherited rendered full rectification a time-consuming exercise.”

The inquiry found that the perpetrator had given ample notice of the intention to burn the dorm. However, the authorities never sought to keep a close watch on the child. Instead they chose to lock her in the heavily grilled dorm with the other children, unsupervised. No blame was apportioned here.

With that being said, the nation is in the dark about the prosecution of the child charged with 20 counts of murder. There is no word about any further court appearance.

There was another dormitory fire. Again, there is a profound silence.

In fact, those incidents appear to be dead. And these are not the only dead incidents. Orin Boston was shot dead in his bed on the Essequibo Coast. There was an initial investigation. Someone was placed under close arrest.

Months have passed and a silence surrounds this issue. The killing of the Henry brothers and one of their friends is similarly receiving the silent treatment.

In one sense, reporters may be responsible for the silence. They have not been making these issues a matter of public interest.

Perhaps there are more important interests. And indeed, each day something eye-catching happens. For example, there was a fire at Swan, East Bank Demerara, at what is used as a storage area for cars. Many did not know of this storage location.

However, soon after the news broke, names of the people owning the area began to surface. Sometimes, people are wrongfully accused and if given a chance they would clear their names. In this case, one of the people named is the acting Police Commissioner.’

He was hostile to the reporter who called him to ascertain whether the information about his ownership was accurate.

He queried, “Is everything people seh y’all gun publish?” He became angry, according to the reporter, and disconnected the call without answering any question.

An individual claimed that my children have distanced themselves from me. He certainly doesn’t know my children. He, unlike the reporter who called to check on a report of owner of the vehicle storage location at Swan, East Bank Demerara, never tried to talk to anyone who knows both me or my children.

If someone were to call me to verify that statement, I would never ask if it is that everything that is said people would want to run with. I would answer the query. I would go further. I would direct the person to others in the know to seek verification.

Suffice it to say that a major fire occurred at Swan, East Bank Demerara, at this storage facility. There has been no report by the Guyana Fire Service which reports on minor things like grass fires that it is called to fight. Why this silence?

Photographs have been released of the scene. Someone used a drone to capture the destruction which was widespread. The Guyana Fire Service did respond to the conflagration.  It has said not a word.

The extent of secrecy is mindboggling. When the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour returned from the United States after being grilled by the federal authorities and the news broke locally, people in the government would only say that it was a routine affair.  At the time she was the Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry.

Then there was a promise to release any information that would become available. Nothing was done or has been done since. After the United States announced sanctions against this woman there was a statement that she had resigned from the Central Committee of the People’s Progressive Party.

A news report stated while the woman Mae Toussaint-Thomas has resigned from the Central Committee of the PPP, she remains a Permanent Secretary in the Government.

She was sent on leave as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, following the US Department of Treasury report, which implicated her in a bribery scheme.

While describing Mae Toussaint-Thomas as a “hard worker” in the PPP, Vice President Jagdeo has said she is still maintaining her innocence.

“She indicated that she did not want to bring the party into disrepute… and she says that she maintains her innocence and is available for any investigation”, Jagdeo said.

Resigning from the party for not wanting to bring the party into disrepute but remaining as a Permanent Secretary should be seen as not considering the Ministry and by extension, the government, capable of being brought into disrepute.

But such is life in Guyana. A list of police promotions that was supposed to be confidential has gained more publicity than any of the issues that have been mentioned here.

Everyone but the Police Service Commission which is the entity to pronounce on it, has seen it.

What is supposed to be secret is not secret in Guyana.

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