Rodney CoI to determine whether security forces spied on Opposition

Mar 05, 2014 News

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– Witnesses invited to submit written statements

One week after its three international members were appointed, the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) has gone public, inviting witnesses to submit written statements.

In its invitation yesterday published in Kaieteur News, the CoI’s Secretariat, currently being housed in the Supreme Court Library Building, said that the statements to be submitted before March 26th, can be dropped in or emailed to [email protected].
The written statements must contain the “nature and substance of their proposed evidence”.
The Secretariat also stressed that the statements must be relevant to the Terms of Reference. These terms, according to the invitation, include the examination by the CoI of the facts and “circumstances immediately prior, at the time of, and subsequent to, the death of Dr. Rodney” in order to determine, as far as possible, who or what was responsible for the explosion resulting in the death of the politician/historian.
The CoI is to also enquire whether the explosion was an act of terrorism, and if so, to find out the perpetrators.
The hearings will have to decide also, specifically, the role, if any, which the late Gregory Smith, Sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force, played in the death of Rodney and “if so, to inquire into who may have counseled, procured, aided and or abetted him to do so, including facilitating his departure from Guyana” after the incident.
The Terms of Reference also give the CoI the power to examine and report on the actions and activities of the state, including the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana National Service, the Guyana People’s Militia “and those who were in command and superintendence of these agencies, to determine whether they were tasked with the surveillance of and the carrying out of actions, and whether they did execute those tasks and carried out those actions against the Political Opposition, for the period 1st January, 1978 to 31st December, 1980.”
The CoI members will also be examining and reviewing reports on earlier investigations and inquiries done into the incident.Witnesses submitting statements are being asked to submit their names, addresses and telephone numbers.
More than six months after announcing its intentions to establish the Rodney CoI, the Government last week appointed the three members, all prominent jurists in the region.
Chairing the CoI is Barbadian Queen’s Counsel, Sir Richard Cheltenham, with the others being Guyana-born, Trinidad-based Senior Counsel, Seenauth Jairam and Jamaican Queen’s Counsel, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown.
More than 100 witnesses are likely to be heard.

The Rodney killing has been one that has long riveted this nation, with accusations that the ruling party and army back then played a major role.
Following their appointments last week by President Donald Ramotar, the three jurists met the army’s top leaders where assurances were given that full cooperation will be extended.
President Ramotar said that the Rodney family has been petitioning him to bring closure to the incident by ordering an independent inquiry.
The Commission will be sitting in two-week intervals until the inquiry is completed, with the sessions open to the public. The official did not rule out permission for live coverage, with the necessary details being worked out. An inquiry ordered by former President Desmond Hoyte in 1988 which found Rodney’s death caused by “accident or misadventure” was met with disbelief in some quarters.
Dr. Rodney was killed on June 13, 1980, when a bomb exploded in a car in which he was an occupant. He was 38 years old at the time. His brother, Donald Rodney, who suffered injuries during the explosion, alleged that a former 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 he had fled Guyana. The army had distanced itself from Smith saying he was never a serving member.
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, has firmly denied playing any part in the bomb blast killing. There have been widespread accusations and finger pointing over the years.
Rodney had founded the Working People’s Alliance after his return from overseas in 1974. In 1979, he was arrested and charged with arson after two government offices were burned.

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