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Walter Rodney COI…Chairman sees no bias in appointment of Commissioner Jairam
By Latoya Giles
In his first press conference with the media, Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney, Sir Richard Cheltenham (QC) yesterday said that there is no bias in the appointment of Senior Counsel Seenauth Jairam.
Sir Richard Cheltenham
Government appointed Sir Richard, Senior Counsel Seenauth Jairam from Trinidad and Tobago and Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown from Jamaica. Soon after the appointment, APNU along with the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) had both objected Jairam’s position on the inquiry.
However, Government who is the sponsor of the commission stood by its position. It countered that the APNU and the other objectors were “clutching at straws”.
Sir Richrd Cheltenham yesterday also dismissed the claims by the parties as lacking ‘walking capacity.’
He said that he believed that Attorney General Anil Nandlall dealt with the matter efficiently and that he would not want to add. He said, further, that he did not see how working for the government in the past could affect the work of the Commission now.
He asserted, “The issue has no length; it simply has no walking capacity. I don’t understand how one can draw the inference of bias.” Commissioner Jairam when asked whether he had any comment, he declined, stating that the matter was already addressed.
Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira had said that APNU’s call against Jairam being part of the COI speaks volumes. She said that APNU should not question Jairam’s competence to execute his duties without bias. She had stated that even though the party has a right to its own opinion; Government looks at it as being “highly prejudicial”.
Teixeira maintained that the Commission was made of “outstanding jurists” within the Region, people whose integrity has not been challenged. She opined that there may be an ulterior motive why some people are uncomfortable with the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry.
In 1979 Rodney was arrested and charged with arson after two offices that served as headquarters of the People’s National Congress were burned.
On 13 June 1980, Walter Rodney at the age of thirty-eight was killed by a bomb in his car, a month after returning from the independence celebrations in Zimbabwe and during a period of intense political activism.
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