That Rodney COI: the questions

Jun 19, 2014 Editorial

After a surge of public interest in the ongoing Rodney Commission of Inquiry with the appearance and testimonies of a few high profile personalities ,the public quite understandably awaits further titillating tidbits from an event that has seemingly lost all pretence at achieving its objective(s) or to put it bluntly what it publicly was set up to achieve.
To say that watchers are viewing the proceedings with credulity would be like taking a leap of faith into unknown waters. There are burning questions that come to mind when the Rodney COI is mentioned. What really is to be gained from the various exposés which arguably have to be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism?
A few examples will suffice. One witness claims that he was a henchman who engaged in thuggery against opponents of the Burnham government; the said thug later was embraced as a privileged member in the upper echelons of various political parties including the PNC. That scenario vividly portrays the self-confessed thug in the classic role of Little Tommy Tucker singing for his supper.
One question which probably remained unanswered with the audience was if the very witness was privy to such intimate goings on at senior levels of his organization, what then would have prevented active involvement in or knowledge of any plot(s) to harm prominent anti-government personalities.
The next example would be hilarious if it wasn’t so pathetic. Another witness appears under duress and proclaims an appalling memory lapse for certain details. What the COI got from that hostile witness is only to be conjectured. What is obvious is that someone made a miscalculation and was not properly briefed by those whose intentions with respect to the COI are anything but honourable thereby making what will ultimately turn out to be a fateful blunder of colossal proportions.
One cannot move from being a darling of a previous administration and retain that darling pride of place and not be rightly shocked at such an inopportune exposure to public scrutiny. The prevailing contentious terms of reference have certainly not helped to ease any feelings of unease which prospective witnesses are bound to be experiencing at this time.
It would have been the height of irony if former Commissioner of Police, the late Laurie Lewis, had been alive and was summoned to attend to give testimony as Major General Norman Mc Clean (rtd) did, and former Deputy Commissioner Cecil ‘Skip’ Roberts is expected to anytime soon.
What would have had everyone sitting up and taking notice apart was the fact that Lewis served in a highly sensitive position which had oversight for the intelligence apparatus in the country and was to all intents and purposes the local personification of the first FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover.
Therefore there must be some merit in the conventional wisdom which claims that had Laurie Lewis been alive and in full control of all his faculties there is no way that the current drama would have been staged.
It would have been the height of folly to attempt to ignore his total involvement as an influential player in a repressive era.
What must be going through the minds of the initiators of – what at times has taken on the character of a poorly organized sitcom are thoughts on how to effectively milk the inquiry for all it is worth politically without burning themselves in the process.
How can anyone hope to make a particular party look bad because of its former close associations with people who now enjoy favoured position status in influential circles? There is a case to be made against any former administration if the actions of some officials whether centrally directed, or born of personal motivation caused harm and suffering to the nation. Culpability must also be attached to any party which having suffered through the official actions of those officials then turns around and embraces those persons.
In a real sense this COI will have to show some justification for its existence at the taxpayers ‘expense. There will have to be some serious maneuverings to get past the doubts that are taking on a life of their own as to the credibility of the Rodney Commission of Inquiry.

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