That document should not have been leaked

Feb 29, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am amazed that so far no government official or anyone from the PPP or WPA has questioned who leaked the COI Report on the death of Walter Rodney.
However, top functionaries including President David Granger, his predecessor Donald Ramotar, and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall have commented on the findings of the report.
It is totally wrong for a official document to find its way to the press before it is officially released by the authorities. What is baffling so far is that not a single person has publicly criticized the leak.
According to the media, the lengthy report was handed to the Attorney General’s secretary on instructions since the President was unavailable to personally receive it from the Chairman of the Commission Sir Richard Cheltenham, QC.
Despite the critical statements, the Report is not yet an official document, because it has not been laid in Parliament or officially announced as having been presented.
This is a sad state of affair since Rodney was assassinated on March 13, 1980 and there was no Inquest for several years.
It was not until 1988 after the historian’s widow addressed a sorrowing letter to the then President Desmond Hoyte followed by a protest from a group called Woman in Guyana accompanied by a petition which was delivered by Rodney’s mother that a Inquest was held and the finding that the death was by misadventure was deemed as flawed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Shaka, son of the deceased, later held a fast and vigil which prompted murder charge to be laid against Gregory Smith who was residing in Cayenne French Guiana and the then Chief Magistrate K. KumanYassin ordered he be extradited to Guyana. There was a problem there because French government did not extradite to countries where there is death penalty.
When the PPP took over the government in 1992 Cheddi Jagan as President threw cold water on the issue stating what a conviction and imprisonment would do to the Rodneys. He then conferred the country’s highest award, Order of Excellence (OE) posthumously on him. Gregory Smith died in 2002 from stomach cancer in Cayenne.
The Cheltenham Commission which was set up only two years ago, and 34 years after the death of Dr. Rodney, costs the taxpayers tens of millions, if not, hundreds of millions – a fantastic sum which according to President Granger could be used to build ten schools; Rodney’s widow is not pleased with the findings of the 1988 Inquest that the death was by misadventure and wants a closure to her husband’s death which brought enormous grief to her, her children, Dr.Rodney’s mother, his siblings, close relatives, and friends
Oscar Ramjeet

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