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Rodney COI moves into high gear on Monday
The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the June 1980 death of historian/politician, Dr. Walter Rodney, is set to move into high gear from next Monday with the start of the public hearings phase.
Dr. Walter Rodney
The hearings will continue until Wednesday, before breaking for May Day and resuming again on May 2. The hearings were initially set to start this week but faced delays.
According to a Government statement on the hearings, it will be held at the Supreme Court Library Building, Avenue of the Republic and Charlotte Street.
Almost 33 years after Rodney’s death, Government in late February appointed Barbadian Queen’s Counsel, Sir Richard Cheltenham, as the CoI’s Chairman with the other members being Guyana-born, Trinidad-based Senior Counsel, Seenauth Jairam and Jamaican Queen’s Counsel, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown.
The Government statement reiterated that the purpose of the hearings will be for the Commission to receive testimony and evidence from interested parties to help examine the facts and circumstances immediately prior, at the time of, and subsequent to the death of Dr. Rodney. The aim is to order to determine, as far as possible, who or what was responsible for the explosion resulting in the death of Rodney, who co-founded the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), an Opposition party.
The CoI will inquire into the cause of the explosion in which Rodney died and examine the role, if any, which the late Gregory Smith, said to be a Sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force, played in the death. The hearings will be examining any possible evidence into who may have counselled, procured, aided and/or abetted Smith, including facilitating his departure from Guyana.
Also to be determined is the role of the state, including the actions and activities of the Guyana Police 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 Commission will be accepting original and follow-up statements from interested parties during the life of the Commission and will be setting subsequent hearing dates to facilitate the commission and attendance of witnesses.
President Ramotar has said that Rodney’s family has been petitioning him to bring closure to the incident by ordering an independent inquiry. Almost 100 witnesses are expected to be heard.
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.
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