Walter Rodney 1980 killing…Govt. about to swear in CoI members

Feb 23, 2014 News

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Government is finalizing details and reportedly nearing the swearing in of members for an International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the 1980 death of politician/historian Walter Rodney.

The inquiry was announced in June last year by Government’s spokesman, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who said that President Donald Ramotar had green lighted a decision to call in international experts to probe the killing.
According to Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, final details are being worked out with an official announcement of the members to be made in the near future. He declined to say how soon.
Senior official of the Working Peoples Alliance (WPA), Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, yesterday said he has not been officially informed but has seen a letter from Oscar Ramjeet, a letter writer, which named three senior jurists as being part of the CoI.
Roopnaraine said he will await the publication of the names of the members in the Official Gazette before commenting further.
According to Ramjeet, the Commission will be headed by Barbadian Queen’s Counsel, Richard Cheltenham. Also to be sworn in are Guyanese-born Senior Counsel, Seenauth Jairam, who has been practicing in Trinidad and Tobago since 1979 and is now head of the Bar Association in that country and Jamaican Queen’s Counsel, Jacquelene Samuels- Brown, who is the Chairperson of the Council of Legal Education (CLE).
An inquiry ordered by former President Desmond Hoyte in 1988 which found Rodney’s death caused by “accident or misadventure” had met with disbelief with burning questions continuing over the past 33 years over the incident which has remained a dark stain on the country’s history.
Since the announcement by Dr. Luncheon last year, WPA- Rodney’s party, has said that it has been approached by persons “purporting” to be associated with a Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, for information. But the party insisted that it will not cooperate as the body was not properly established.
“The WPA has also been formally requested in writing to allow the Commission access to documents that could assist in the inquiry.  In the process, it has come to our attention that the Commission has an office and staff and has begun its work. The WPA is unaware of any formal announcement of the Commission by the President in keeping with the legal requirements prescribed by the Constitution.”
The Party said that it is a requirement by law that a Commission of Inquiry must be announced and gazetted and accompanied by the Terms of Reference and the names of the Commissioner or Commissioners.
“When the government in June announced its intention to set up the Commission, the WPA said it welcomed such a commission and expressed its willingness to cooperate with it.  But we view the soliciting of statements in the absence of a properly constituted Commission highly improper.”
WPA called on the government to take necessary steps to have the Commission formally constituted before proceeding with its business.
“Failure to do so would only fan the flames of intrigue and conspiracy which in the long run could compromise the integrity of inquiry.”
The announcement last year came on the heels of the -33rd death anniversary of the slain activist.
Dr. Rodney was killed when a bomb exploded in a car in which he was an occupant. He was 38- years-old at the time.
Rodney’s brother, Donald Rodney, who suffered injuries during the explosion, claimed that former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) electronics expert, Sergeant Gregory Smith, had given the politician the bomb that killed him.
It was alleged that Smith planted the bomb in a walkie-talkie that blew up on Rodney’s pelvic region while he was on John Street, Werk-en-rust, between Hadfield and Bent Streets, less than 100 metres from the Camp Street Prison.
Smith died of cancer 11 years ago in French Guiana where he had gone to live, after his escape from Guyana.
There have been claims that Rodney’s assassination was set up by the government of Forbes Burnham, whom Rodney was opposed to. This was because his assassination came at the height of a planned civil rebellion against the Burnham-led administration.
But Burnham’s party, the PNC had firmly denied being any part of the bomb blast killing. There has been widespread accusations and finger pointing over the years.
Rodney’s family especially has been pressuring the Administration to set up an inquiry.
In 1974 Rodney returned to Guyana from Tanzania. He was due to take up a position as a professor at the University of Guyana but the Burnham government prevented his appointment.
He became increasingly active in politics, founding the WPA, a party that provided the most effective and credible opposition to the PNC government. In 1979 he was arrested and charged with arson after two government offices were burned.
Rodney had traveled widely and became very well known internationally as an activist, scholar and formidable orator. He taught at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania during the period 1966-67 and later in Jamaica at his alma mater UWI Mona. He was sharply critical of the middle class for its role in the post-independence Caribbean. He was also a strong critic of capitalism and argued for a socialist development template.
On 15 October 1968 the government of Jamaica, led by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, declared Rodney persona non grata. The decision to ban him from ever returning to Jamaica because of his advocacy for the working poor in that country caused riots to break out, eventually claiming the lives of several people and causing millions of dollars in damages. These riots, which started on 16 October 1968, are now known as the Rodney Riots, and they triggered an increase in political awareness across the Caribbean, especially among the Afrocentric Rastafarian sector of Jamaica, documented in his book The Groundings With My Brothers.
After his assassination, Rodney received several honours. In 1993, the government of Dr Cheddi Jagan posthumously gave him the country’s highest national award, the Order of Excellence and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was established at the University of Guyana.
Rodney’s death was also commemorated in a poem by Martin Carter entitled “For Walter Rodney.”

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