Avellon Williams
GUYANA- As part of a settlement to avoid further lawsuits, Guyana’s government is paying $25,000 to the parents of the 20 children who were killed in a fire at a state-run high school in May.
According to the country’s main opposition party, the settlement provided too little money for the families and was a way to avoid the obligations to address safety concerns raised by the fire at a boarding school for indigenous families in Mahdia, Guyana’s interior.
Nineteen girls and the son of the school’s administrator died in the fire in a heavily fortified dormitory on May 21. It has been reported that one of the students deliberately lit the fire, and she has been arrested and charged with murder.
On Monday, Attorney General Anil Nandlall announced the settlement and said the families had requested the cash to “enhance their ability to continue to provide for their families.”
In May and June, the state covered all burial and related expenses. One girl with severe burns was sent to a New York hospital for specialized treatment.
According to the main opposition party, A Partnership for National Unity, or APNU, the settlement isn’t sufficient because it is not enough to build a house in the capital, much less in the interior where materials are more expensive.
“These students died whilst in the care and custody of the state and so the state has not been doing a favor to the families,” opposition lawmaker and attorney Amanza Walton said in the statement.
According to Walton, the government is trying to avoid following recommendations made by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, or UNICEF, to improve safety at state-run dorms, such as changing the practice of placing iron grills on windows and padlocks on doors.
In the meantime, the government plans to appoint a commission of inquiry in the near future. Maj. Gen. Joseph Singh, retired army chief of staff, will lead the panel, but its other members have not yet been announced.
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