Walter Rodney COI…Opposition lacked capacity to overthrow Gov’t – Rohee

Feb 11, 2015 News

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Despite holding many public meetings to “strategize” and calls from supporters to take action against the pressures of the then governing People’s National Congress (PNC), General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee believes that the combined opposition in those days did not have the capacity to overthrow the government.

The General Secretary shared this view under intense cross-examination as the Commission of Inquiry (COI) set up to get to the bottom of political figure Dr. Walter Rodney’s death, continued yesterday.
Dr. Rodney, a scholar, social activist and co-founder of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) was killed in an explosion on Friday, June 13, 1980.
Rohee had previously testified that the political figure had been the victim of state-sponsored terrorism and that the period 1978 – 1980 was one which saw members of both the PPP and WPA being kept under close surveillance by the members of the Special Branch of the Guyana Police Force.
When he returned for cross-examination yesterday, Basil Williams, the attorney representing the PNC suggested that Rohee, who had been employed as a journalist in Czechoslovakia at that time, had no direct knowledge as to how Rodney met his demise.
Rohee told the Commission that though he     returned to Guyana in 1983, he had learnt of Rodney’s death via a telephone call. Williams suggested to Rohee that he was in no position to say that Rodney’s death had been an act of the State, especially due to the fact that he was thousands of miles away at that time.
But Rohee stood his ground, stating that there are thousands maybe millions, like him, who learnt of Rodney’s death and “pointed their fingers to the Government.” Williams argued that Rohee had no substantial evidence to support his claims.
Focusing on surveillance at the time, the lawyer suggested to Rohee that the political opposition forces during the period of 1978-1980 were justifiably under surveillance.
Williams asked Rohee if the standing orders of the Special Branch are the same now as they were during the period under review, but Rohee claimed that he was not aware of such.
The witness went on to say “When the PPP came into power, Dr. Cheddi Jagan (then leader of the PPP) sought to assign a different role to the Special Branch; more to do with crime intelligence.”
According to Rohee, that is where the energies of the Special Branch are now directed and he could not speak whether the acts of the unit were unlawful during Burnham’s regime.
Quoting from the standing orders governing the intelligence unit previously submitted to the Commission, Williams asked whether it was the same as it is now, but Rohee claimed that he is not familiar with what it was then, since he was appointed in 2006.
The lawyer focused on Rohee’s previous testimony where he stated that there were meetings between the WPA and PPP. Williams grilled Rohee on whether there were talks to overthrow or remove the Government.
But the party’s General Secretary pointed out that the two leaders would meet from time to time to “strategize on the approach they would take to advance the struggle.” Williams moved to suggest that, as such, the political operatives were justifiably under surveillance under the remit of Special Branch at the time.
Rohee said that he could not accept that, since he was merely au fait with the standing orders of the police and not special branch
“Do you agree that if a person publicly declares that they would overthrow the government of the day that that person was qualified to come under surveillance?” Williams asked Rohee, who replied “That was a matter of Special Branch, not me as Minister of Home Affairs.”
“I can’t speak for any other Minister of Home Affairs that preceded me,” Rohee said. The Minister told the Commission “I don’t think we had the capacity to overthrow the Government.”
Rohee told the Commission that during the period, there were shots being fired in public meetings, but admitted that he had not mentioned that in his statement.
“There were so many things happening during that period,” Rohee said, adding that he knew of cases where the police shot tear gas and bullets into crowds. He said the police of the day had shot into crowds, killing people.
Williams attempted to create a nexus between the recent Linden shooting and incidents that occurred involving the police during the period under consideration.
The PNC attorney was cautioned by Commission Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham, who objected to Williams’ line of questioning, noting that it was outside the terms of reference of the Commission of Inquiry.
Assistant lead counsel to the commission, Latchmie Rahamat said that the commission will be conducting “in camera” sessions with some witnesses, commencing today, which excludes the public and media.
This is the eighth session of public hearings of the commission and it is expected to conclude next Friday.

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