If anything good at all could come out of such a horrific crime as the murder of fourteen-year-old Raheem Abdool, it is that Minister Bibi Shadick ordered an investigation into the orphanage from which he came. Her ministry is now moving to set up a committee to run the affairs of the Sad’r Boys Orphanage in Kitty, which is managed by the Guyana United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman. The Minister told this newspaper that the probe had found that the institution was not being properly run, and that there were instances of children being physically abused and used for child labour. The age of the children in the orphanage ranges from seven to sixteen.
Imam Ishmail Isman Muhammad, a senior executive of the Anjuman, was reported by Stabroek News on Wednesday as denying the Minister’s claim, saying that there were no problems with the administration of the institution, or the Anjuman, which he distanced from the death of Raheem.
The issue, of course, is not whether there is anything wrong with the Anjuman, and neither was the Minister pronouncing on that. The issue is whether the orphanage is run as it should be, and where that is concerned - the findings of the investigation apart - there are issues arising from the death of Raheem which bear closer inspection. To give but two examples: the authorities in the institution did not search for him with the energy which their position and the occasion demanded, and they failed to inform his family about his absence for almost a week.
In any case, the murder itself should have persuaded the Imam that it was necessary to inquire more closely into how the orphanage which carried the Anjuman’s name was being administered, irrespective of the Ministry’s investigation.
The Ministry, of course, had to investigate, because the orphanage is a public institution charged with the care of children. The Imam, therefore, should have been at pains to reassure the Muslim community no less than the public at large, that everything possible was being done to facilitate the official inquiry. Furthermore, he should have been more anxious than he appeared to be, to commit his organization to working with the Ministry to address anything disquieting which was unearthed. And what has been unearthed so far, is disquieting. It is not a responsible approach when the safety of children is involved, to dismiss findings of abuse and child labour out of hand.
While the Minister’s actions have been in all other regards exemplary, the one query one might have about her decisions so far, relates to the fact that the house mother of the orphanage has been left to function in her post. When asked about this, Minister Shadick replied that she posed no immediate threat to the safety of the children. While that is no doubt true, in an institution where children have been abused and sent outside the orphanage to work, it is important to suspend all the senior officials, so that there are no inhibitions on the inquiry or the restructuring process.
One can only hope at this stage that Minister Shadick can set up her management committee with the utmost dispatch, so that, as she said, proper systems can be put in place to ensure that quality care is given to all the boys in the institution.