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Rodney COI…PNC/R says PPP has no interest in the pursuit of truth
The People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) is of the view that the recently launched Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (COI) is set to miss the chance to pursue the truth about Dr. Rodney’s death due to the Terms of Reference drafted by the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP).
The party outlined through its leader David Granger that it supports the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry with the stated objective “to inquire into and report on the circumstances surrounding the death in an explosion of the late Dr. Walter Rodney”, particularly with the first Terms of Reference TOR 1 “to examine the facts and circumstances immediately prior, at the time of, and subsequent to, the death of Dr. Walter Rodney in order to determine, as far as possible, who or what was responsible for the explosion resulting in the death of Dr. Walter Rodney.”
Leader of the PNC/R David Granger
However, the party had raised its concerns with TOR 4 which required the Commission “to examine and report on the actions and activities of the state, such as 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.”
Granger outlined that the Human Rights Association (GHRA) also expressed the view that the proposed Terms of Reference had “greater potential for reviving rather than healing ethnic division in Guyana. In this respect, the clause [TOR 4] provides an opportunity…for generating a stream of horror stories from that era into the work of the Commission, with rich potential for stirring up Indo-Guyanese resentment against the PNC.”
The PNC/R is of the view that the purpose of an Inquiry should not be to ascertain civil or criminal liability. “That is the task for a court of law” said Granger.
As such, Granger asserts that number 4 of the TOR is in conflict with number 1 of the said document and is “a deliberately diversionary smokescreen which would obscure the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Walter Rodney and it is likely to constrain the Commission’s pursuit of the truth.”
“It is clear that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration is more interested in seeking to gain a political advantage by unashamedly provoking resentment against the PNC/R than in pursuing the truth about Dr. Rodney’s death,” said Granger.
According to Granger, the PPP/C “has now deliberately waited on the onset of Local Government Elections with the intention of diverting public attention from the prevalent problems of crime, corruption, incompetence and conflict within the PPP itself.”
The Party during a press briefing held yesterday expressed the view that the timeframe aimed at the concluding of the COI is not about thoroughness “but at Dr. Rodney’s death anniversary in June, now less than five weeks away.”
The PNC/R outlined that the Inquiry’s main aim should be to find out what happened and how it happened. “The PPP/C Administration, in drafting the Terms of Reference in this peculiar manner, opened the floodgates to ‘hearsay’ evidence. Human memory, after 34 years, can be contaminated by political propaganda, prejudice and partiality. Human memory is capable of playing tricks with the recollection of past events. It will be difficult, as has already been shown, to separate fact from fiction and premonition” said Granger.
The PNC/R asserts “that the timing of the Inquiry 34 years after the incident; the four-month deadline for the submission of the report; the relaxation of the rules of evidence; the insertion of TOR (4); the live streaming of testimony over state-owned radio and the hysterical headlines in the state-owned media are all part of a planned political propaganda programme.”
“The entire performance is aimed at seeking to damage the reputation of the PNC administration and to impugn the character of public servants who served our country at the time of Dr. Rodney’s death,” said Granger.
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