Rodney COI resumes…Army “can’t locate” Gregory Smith’s personal records

Jul 30, 2014 News

By Latoya Giles

The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) yesterday said that they cannot locate personal records for Army Officer, William ‘Gregory’ Smith, along with several other documents.
The Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry resumed yesterday, and the commissioners were told by Lieutenant Colonel Patrick West, that the files did not turn up during searches by the army.
West, who is the Administration Officer in charge of Personal Records, said the army was asked to determine if Smith was a member. Searches, he said, unearthed “many Smiths”.

Lt Colonel Patrick West shows a document to members of the Commission

He told the Commission that they were later provided with the number “4141” which corresponded with a William Smith and not a Gregory Smith. He said that all the army documents could not identify if Gregory Smith was a member of the force. West explained that on every personal file, a photograph would have been attached.
West said that the Alphabetical Register shows the name William Smith and not Gregory Smith. The register dates back to 1965 and includes information up to 2013. He said it was rare not to find someone’s personal file; pointing out that had it been found, it would have provided details in relation to Smith.
The army official said too that after checking several files, his team could not locate Smith’s general orders, along with some of his pay records. As such, West was quick to point out that he could only verify that a “William Smith” was enlisted in the force and found none other suspected alias on file, which includes Gregory Smith.
According to the records found by West, William Smith was enlisted in the Force on July 26, 1972. He only found four pay records for Smith, including one in 1975 when he was paid as a private soldier, another in 1977 when he was paid as a Corporal and the last record on July 28, 1979, when he was paid as a Sergeant. He had received a salary of $383.93
West also said, that he did not locate any records which indicated when Smith left the Force or whether he was absent without leave (AWOL), granted amnesty or discharged. He could not positively say whether it was deliberately destroyed or misplaced. He did point out that some files were damaged in the 2005 national floods.
West, who has been a member of the GDF since 1984, said that the missing information which was uncovered was not unique to Smith, pointing out that there were other ranks whose information appeared absent.
This is not the first time that the Commission is dealing with the issue. Former Officer in Charge of the Special Branch unit of the Guyana Police Force, and now Crime Chief Leslie James, was unable to locate several files which had covered developments that attracted police attention on and leading up to the death of Dr. Walter Rodney.
James had told the Commissioners that he could not say whether the files are “lost” or have been “misplaced”.
“A request was made to have the documents presented to the commission. I complied with that…”
He had explained that files from both the Special Branch along with the Criminal Investigations Department were handed over.
James submitted three documents from the Special Branch on Rodney labeled ‘WPA Eight, Nine and Ten’ to the Commission of Inquiry.
An additional three files from CID along with an arrest warrant that was issued in June 1996 for Gregory Smith in relation to Rodney’s death was handed over to the Commission. They were later tendered into evidence. James explained that all files which are being submitted have been duplicated.
James, during the testimony, told the Commission that he could not find the other seven files. He said that they had to have existed, since the numbering was done in sequence from one to ten.
The ongoing inquiry was announced earlier this year by President Donald Ramotar who said that Walter Rodney’s family had petitioned him for one.
Rodney was killed in June 1980, allegedly by a bomb given to him by Smith.
The case had sparked accusations and finger pointing at the then PNC administration, an accusation that was vehemently denied.