No fire tragedy talk on social media
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) — President Irfaan Ali Wednesday urged Guyanese nationals here and abroad to refrain from using social media for self-generated analsyis of the fire that engulfed the dormitory of Mahdia Secondary School on Monday, killing 19 students and injuring several others.
“I am urging all Guyanese to desist from self-analysis, from reviewing timelines in the stories of all these girls, and from analysing the life story of all of these girls at this time.
“There is a time and place for everything. Let us focus [on the] using of social media for motivational quotes, prayers, inspirational songs, uplifting messages, and not an opportunity to theorise and come up with our own theories on these beautiful children’s lives,” Ali said in a broadcast on his Facebook page, adding “This is a time for national responsibility, collective responsibility in seeking your help in issuing social media in a responsible way at this time.
“Yes, we are a very opinionated society. We all have opinions on what is right and wrong and what should and should not be done but, as I said before, myself and the Government — as far as possible — will fulfil the wishes and desires of the children and their families.
“It is the least we can do, and everything we are doing we are doing it in consultation with the families,” he added.
Police say they will send a file to the director of public prosecution (DPP) on Wednesday, after indicating that a female student may have played a role in setting the fire to the building that housed female students from Mahdia, Campbelltown, Micobie, El Paso, and several other villages in North Pakaraimas in Region 8.
In a statement the police said that the investigations so far “reveal that a female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm’s mother and a teacher”.
It said that at the time of the fire there were 57 female students in the one-flat concrete building measuring about 100 feet by 40 feet, with several windows (all grilled) and with five doors. One boy was among the 19 children killed.
On Tuesday a candlelight vigil was held at Umana Yana in the capital and attended by survivors, who were recently released from the hospital, and family members.
In his broadcast President Ali urged citizens to “put your opinions in a backseat and let’s put these children in the front seat as a priority”.