00:00President of the Fire Service Association, Kion Guy, has labeled the comments made by former Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley on the matter as troubling, seeing his comments undermine the very purpose of the investigation.
00:12He says that accountability must be based on evidence and findings from the investigation, not assumptions made beforehand.
00:20But I have a number of concerns with the statements of the former Prime Minister, specifically when he says that the report seemed to have covered up for those who are accountable.
00:33And I would say, how did the Prime Minister, or the former Prime Minister, that is, go about determining who was accountable?
00:40That was the purpose of this investigation, determining who was accountable, if any, what went wrong, and in his words,
00:47why was the Fire Service's response what it was, given the proximity of the Arima Fire Station?
00:54When asked by Morning Edition host Marlon Hopkinson whether he believed that the former Prime Minister was pointing fingers at fire officers,
01:02the association's president had this to say.
01:05It's not really what I think. It's what fire officers believe.
01:08And largely within the organization, that has been the response we're hearing from our officers,
01:13that this statement by the Prime Minister indicates, and it falls in line with the statements around the incident
01:19by himself and his other members of his cabinet at the time.
01:24And certainly it falls in line with the statements of the former Minister of National Security around the fire services,
01:31the fact that, in his opinion, the fire service was well equipped, and those types of things.
01:36The president says the organization will stand by the findings of the investigation once it is shown to be thorough and transparent.
01:44We want to see the report. We want to ensure that all the factors or the information that we've been able to gather
01:51about the incident and that they will continue to attend that report.
01:55We would like to see to what degree the committee or the three-member team was able to answer
02:01the almost, I believe it was almost 10 questions posed to them.
02:05We want to see to what degree and how extensive that was.
02:09And certainly, Marlon, if they lay accountability and responsibility on one person or the other,
02:13as long as their findings are sound, that investigation was done in a form of systematic matter,
02:20it can be justified. We will stand by it.
02:22The Fire Service Association also says it welcomes the Prime Minister's intention
02:26to lay the final report into the Morris-Julian tragedy in Parliament.
02:30The association maintains that transparency remains critical as the nation continues to seek answers
02:37in a tragedy that claimed the lives of former government minister and her children.
02:42The report is expected to shed light on what went wrong and whether accountability will follow.
02:48Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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