Grenfell fire inquiry blames incompetence

Seven years after the gruesome fire in 24-storey Grenfell Tower, a high-rise building in London, which housed immigrants, many from Africa, where 72 of the residents were killed in 2017, the commission of inquiry headed by Martin Moor-Bick has come out with a stinging indictment. It said that incompetence, dishonesty and greed of those involved, the fire-fighters, the building contractors, and the local authorities who ignored safety issues were responsible for the accident. Martin Moor-Bick said, “The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable.”

The committee found that the main reason for the fire was the combustible covering material, Aluminium Composite Material (ACM), which is a mix of aluminium and plastic. This was a cheaper material, which was allowed by building authorities and contractors. The manufacturers misrepresented the safety aspect by projecting it to be safe when it was not.

The problem could be traced back to 1991, and over the years local authorities ignored the matter. Old buildings used ACM for refurbishing. The architects involved did not warn, and it is felt that there was manipulation at the local authorities to appoint compromised architects. The London Fire Brigade was blamed for “chronic lack of effective management and leadership.” One of the recommendations is to set up a college for fire and rescue to improve their training in dealing with fire in high-rise buildings. The committee has also mooted a single regulatory authority for the construction industry instead of the warren of authorities.The committee has nailed all the loopholes in the system, but those responsible for the death of the 72 residents of the building remain to be punished. Nineteen organisations and 58 individuals are being investigated for dereliction of duty that caused the deaths, but they would not come up for trial till 2026. The Grenfell Next of Kin group said in a statement, “We were denied justice for seven years and now told there will be several more years. Our realistic concern is that ‘web of blame’ presented through the inquiry will be a barrier to our justice.”

But there has been a sense of alarm and a tone of penitence in the political quarter. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “It should never have happened. The country failed to discharge its most fundamental duty, to protect you and your loved ones. Today is a long awaited day of truth but it must now lead to a day of justice.” London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan was more forthright when he said that “more must now be done to hold those responsible to account, including banning any of the companies held responsible by the inquiry from receiving any public contracts and the police…look into bringing criminal prosecutions.”

While the sense of anger and hand-wringing on the part of politicians is understandable, there is a deeper malaise affecting Britain and other developed countries. After decades of apparent affluence, they seem to be falling off from the ladder of prosperity. The cities and the administrative systems are undermanaged, and in their eagerness to meet the demand for labour they have allowed migration and they have not been able to take care of the migrants. Poor housing is one of the major issues because it s where the migrant poor are forced to live.

Poor neighbourhoods is a polite way of describing a slum, which is what it would be called in a poor developing country. The rich countries have reached their peak even as people from poor countries rush to the West with dreams in their eyes of pavements made of gold. The harsh reality in a developed country is that the cities are overcrowded and many in the workforce are underpaid, and the cost of living is high.