THE intention of this week’s article was scheduled to focus on the challenges and trials of engaging in a public service in a visible way; something I have become intimately acquainted with over the past year. But in the wee hours of Friday morning, that all changed.

Sadly, I didn’t get the message about the fire which destroyed the Ministry of Health’s Headquarters until the ‘event’ of it was almost over — perhaps this has helped somewhat in mitigating the sense of devastation which came over me. Many of my colleagues were not spared that, however, most of all, the Minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy. I could imagine the sense of futility and frustration felt by all who had to stand by and watch as what amounted to a crucial part of their lives literally went up in flames.

There are no doubt a dozen theories about the perpetrators of the offence and, by association, the motives associated with the fact. What is clear is the effect aimed for, which is, undoubtedly, fear. What other motive could be attributed to such wanton and senseless, yet considered and thorough destruction of public property?

This act of arson — and it is officially considered as such, to the point that the President has offered a $25 million reward — against a government agency as crucial as the Ministry of Health shows that those behind it are intent on attacking Guyana.

The ministry of fear, whether used as a political tool, solves nothing, and is always an end in itself. It is spiteful, barbaric and shows that the planners/executors aren’t capable of any sort of rational thought.

The result? A worst-case scenario would have been a situation whereby there was loss of life and injury, and where the fire might have spread to neighbouring buildings, both within the Ministry’s compound, the neighbouring Hadfield Street, and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission compound. As it is, the estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in actual valuable losses, as well as the invaluable institutional memory, create a situation which the country can ill afford.

Whether reconstruction will be primarily donor-funded, the money which will have to fund the re-establishment of the physical Ministry of Health is money that could have been better spent on other crucial sectors, or even some critical aspect of health care delivery in Guyana.

Outside of this — the obvious disruption of the administration of the national health services in the destruction of the building itself — the Ministry of Health’s building was part of the architectural legacy of this nation: A beautiful, even majestic building. Buildings such as these have survived the efforts of successive regimes in Guyana because, even against possible differences in other areas, there was the good sense of the commonality of our cultural history.

The business of the Ministry of Health is continuing, outside of the physical presence of the Ministry’s Headquarters, and this is what is ultimately important. Sick people are being taken care of; babies are being delivered; and children are being inoculated against disease across Guyana. It is not that the Ministry of Health will rise against the ashes, but that it has continued to exist despite them.