Education Minister, Priya Manickchand should have taken responsibility for the deadly Mahdia dorm inferno with the same willingness she accepts credit when opening new learning institutions, says People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairman and Opposition Parliamentarian, Shurwayne Holder.
Speaking at a rally at Dartmouth, Essequibo recently, the Member of Parliament (MP) said the fire responsible for the deaths of 20 children could have been avoided if the Education sector was being properly managed.
“They are managing the education sector in such a bad way. We saw what happened to the dorm, those students – our indigenous students at Mahdia…Priya Manickchand has the responsibility as Education Minister and if you take credit when you open a school, you’ve got to take the blame when the school bun down and kill 20 students, because you did not put the necessary systems in place,” Holder said.
The MP went on to say that the entire cabinet should have resigned following the tragedy.
He said, “Robeson Benn, a minister responsible for the Fire Service also should have been fired because when they (Fire Service) went there they hadn’t water to out the fire”.
He told the gathering that the community’s largest fire tender was not in Mahdia at the time of the fire. He said the truck was deployed to Lethem to “wash down the place” for the hosting of Independence Day activities.
He said that the Amerindian Minister should have also resigned, but did not expound on the reason for his call.
Even the Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghil was not spared from blame. Holder said Edghill should have also been sacked, because “if he had fixed the road, then the fire truck could have been there earlier.”
