GTUC says unclear how Dr. Rodney’s died

Jul 30, 2015 News

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…no evidence of Burnham involvement
After listening to the evidence provided by 29 witnesses, the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) has concluded that there is nothing to support that the former Working People’s Alliance (WPA) leader, Dr. Walter Rodney was killed as an act of state terrorism.
As he spoke at the final public session of the Commission of Inquiry on Tuesday, Guyana Trade Union Congress (GTUC) lawyer, Brian Clarke, made it clear that there was no evidence provided to the Commission that showed exactly how Dr. Rodney died.
The GTUC lawyer said that he was making submissions from a neutral perspective and that from the inception of the inquiry, the umbrella trade union body believed that Guyana deserves closure from that particular chapter to his history and further an end needed to be brought to the use of Dr. Rodney’s name as a wedge.
He said GTUC would have liked to see the Commission to a “fruitful conclusion” and that it remains to be seen what remains from evidence that has not been subjected to cross-examination.
Industrial Struggle
As he made his final submission, the GTUC lawyer made it clear that the period under review contained economic challenges and that along with the socio-economic situation in Guyana posed difficulties in the industrial relations context.
“There was an industrial crisis in Guyana,” said Clarke as he added that industrial relations climate was important because it is within this context amongst other things that each political party aimed to gain traction and extend their support base.
According to Clarke, the political, social and economic situation in Guyana during the period under review (1978 – 1980) is encapsulated in part by the Sophia Declaration.
This is where the nation’s former leader, Linden Burnham declared “It is not sufficiently appreciated that education and training in and out of the formal system are an integral part of the national development process.
That explains why they are so many misfits whose energy and potential lie idle and unused so far as the national programme and objectives concern. Ours is a war. It may not involve a clash of arms and the unleashing of weapons of destruction but it is still a vital struggle, one against poverty, ignorance, unemployment, hunger, exploitation and we cannot afford the luxury of unemployed citizens, especially youth who seek to get and not to give.”
The lawyer referred to Dr. Rodney’s speech, The Struggle Goes On, delivered on July 20, 1979 in which the politician said, “Let us make it clear that we are not asking persons to enter because of support for our ideology. We are asking for an active effort of our people for national reconstruction and national unity on the basis of common sense, patriotism, decency and honesty.”
He spoke, too, of Rodney’s intent to have dialogue with businessmen, and various professionals like lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects “challenging them to take a stand against what is going on at a political level. We are challenging them to recognise that the workers in society in all sectors have a common cause.”
Clarke also cited Dr. Nanda Gopaul’s book, Resistance and Change, in which he described how the working conditions of sugar workers had deteriorated massively during the 1978 – 1980 period.
Government Interference
He spoke too of Government interference in jobs as well as scholarships selection which led to career stagnation and loss of job prospects. He reflected that Dr. Rodney was a highly qualified and able man but found extreme difficulties landing a job in his field during those times.
“There were allegations that (discrimination) was largely against the WPA members and once you’re associated with that party, it was difficult to land employment,” remarked Clarke.
He posited that discrimination those days was based on partisan politics. Dr. Rodney, who had earned his PhD in African History by age 24, had returned to Guyana from Tanzania, Africa with his eyes set on copping the Director of Caribbean Studies position at the University of Guyana, which had been opened just over a decade before.
The political stalwart, instead, received a letter which stated that there was no “suitable opening” for someone with his qualifications. The GTUC lawyer said that members of the party Dr. Rodney co-founded, the Working People’s Alliance, was being monitored in the workplace as supported by Special Branch reports submitted to the inquiry.
The result of this was that some members were summarily fired. The lawyer pointed out that the WPA had a role in strikes especially in the Bauxite industry.
“The period between 1978 and 1980 was challenging and at boiling point. There is a link between the rising attempts at causing civil unrest as a result of labour relations and an explosion with Dr. Rodney being at the center of both events.”
1980 Bomb Blast
As he examined the probable cause of the June 13, 1980 bomb blast, Clarke posited that it was the device that was given to him by Former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant, Gregory Smith that killed him. A relationship existed between the two he said.
Clarke said it was unclear, however, whether Dr. Rodney died as a result of state terrorism on part of Smith, or alternatively whether he died as a result of misadventure or because he failed to comply with the instructions provided by Smith.
He said that it was Donald Rodney who handed the device and related the instructions to his brother that night, not Smith since Dr. Rodney was sitting in the car and his brother was sent to Smith’s house.
“There is no conclusive evidence that indicates how that package exploded,” Clarke said adding that the cumulative force of the evidence does not point to one specific outcome.
He said if the device was indeed triggered by a radio detonation, it is not outside the realm of possibility that the signals could have perhaps been crossed and accidentally detonated the device.
Clarke argued that if a plan was to get rid of the Opposition members by force and it culminated with giving Rodney a bomb under the guise of testing a walkie-talkie it seemed improbable especially when you consider the way Father Bernard Darke was killed just one year before.
“The evidence does not point conclusively to the fact that this was a mastermind plan. It is inconceivable,” said the GTUC lawyer as he added that it was one year and a month after Father Darke’s killing that Rodney met his demise.
“How do you go from common thuggery to a mastermind plan in less than a year? The two were mutually exclusive,” said Clarke.
GTUC lawyer said that it is unclear whether Dr. Rodney was killed as a result of state terrorism or misadventure. No evidence, he insisted, existed to show that the Burnham-led government was linked to Dr. Rodney’s killing.
He remarked that Smith seemed to have gone AWOL and there is no evidence that the GDF was a party to Smith’s interactions with Dr. Rodney and Smith, the construction of the device that killed Dr. Rodney or that the GDF was involved in the triggering of the device.
GTUC is the umbrella association for 22 affiliated unions and over 70,000 workers, making it the largest trade union group in Guyana. It has been in existence since 1940.

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