THE TOR IS BEING USED AS AN EXCUSE

Mar 10, 2014 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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An excuse had to be found. Any excuse.
It therefore makes little sense to haggle over the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Commission of Inquiry(COI) into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney. The issue is not the terms of reference of the commission; the issue is the inconveniences that such a body would present to the WPA in its ongoing relationship with the PNCR.
The WPA had last year found itself in a very difficult situation with the PNCR when some of its friends and the Rodney family had disapproved an award by the South African government to Forbes Burnham.
Today it finds itself in a similar bind. But it was always expected to have made a choice of once again betraying Rodney. It has done so many times in the past. It did so when one of its leaders in order to facilitate the alliance with the PNCR, issued a statement to the effect that the WPA had been stockpiling arms just prior to the Rodney assassination. This was the price that the WPA paid for getting into bed with the party that murdered its former co- leader.
It is still paying that price. This is why it makes no sense arguing over the Terms of Reference of the Commission of Inquiry that the PPPC administration has now appointed to examine the circumstances leading to and resulting in the death of Rodney.
The WPA and others are making a hash about the fact that the circumstances leading to the death of Rodney should be investigated. But that is just an excuse, since an excuse had to be found so that the WPA can find a way out of prosecuting the PNC which it has historically blamed for murdering Rodney.
Had the WPA demanded an apology into the death of Rodney or at least a confession before it jumped into bed with the PNCR, it would have avoided the situation that it finds itself in today where the long sought after justice for its co -leader is being sacrificed on the altar of political existentiality.
Instead of an apology, the WPA gave the PNCR a basis for justifying the murder of Rodney. Its confession about the stockpiling of arms was always liable to be used to indicate that the PNC had no choice but to take Rodney out.
The PNC murdered Rodney. That belief is widely held. Even the US government in 1980 which was supportive of the PNC accused that party of being implicated in the death of Rodney.
What is being pursued today is legal confirmation of what is commonly held throughout the world: that the Burnham regime murdered Rodney.
After nearly thirty five years and after the death of the man who was responsible for giving Rodney the walkie- talkie that killed him, it was always going to be near impossible for any commission of inquiry to obtain conclusive evidence on the murder of Rodney. The PNC would have long doctored the files on Rodney. In fact when the ICJ team came here, the law authorities had engaged in filibuster tactics over providing these files. All hopes to bring closure to this issue strongly rested on the WPA itself. The WPA would have been expected to prosecute the case against the PNC.
But now roles have changed. The WPA is more interested in saving the PNCR. The PNCR killed Rodney. The WPA which had always shouted that “Rodney Lives” is now going to murder his memory by opting out of the Commission of Inquiry.
That mission was always on the card once they had entered into an alliance with the PNCR without demanding an admission, confession or an apology about the role of the PNC in the murder to Rodney.
So it does not matter what terms of reference were developed, the WPA was always going to find a way to extricate itself out of any inquiry. Its political future depends on its relationship with the PNCR. It has now shamelessly decided to betray its founder leader in order to keep its place at the table of APNU.
The debate over flaws in the terms of reference is therefore a red herring. And it is has some backup singers. With its typical nonsense the Stabroek News Sunday editorial has said that the PPPC should have consulted with the WPA in developing the TOR. What crap!
If the PPPC had done that, the same Stabroek News editorial would have accused the PPPC of being hand in glove with the WPA in seeking to pre-determine the outcome of the COI. It would have assailed the government for having the very party that was prosecuting the PNC having a role in developing the terms of reference.
The WPA had long abdicated any role in developing the TOR for the COI. In 2005, the Rodney family had asked the then Bharrat Jagdeo administration to bring closure to his death. The WPA was asked to assist in developing the TOR. Ten years after, the PPC is still waiting on these few paragraphs to be developed.
The WPA was more interested in 2005 in bringing closure to its plans to enter the Big Tent coalition being assembled by the PNCR. As such, it betrayed Rodney by not developing the TOR.
It is doing so again. Only this time it is not assembling any Big Tent. The WPA is now part of a coalition called APNU in which the PNCR is the principal partner.
Today it wishes to excuse its involvement in prosecuting the PNC for the murder to Rodney by claiming it has problems with the TOR developed by the PPP.
Oh what a tangled web we weave….!

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