Non-release of Rodney COI report…AFC’s political conviction faces test tomorrow in Nat’l Assembly

May 11, 2016 News

By Abena Rockcliffe- Campbell
The Alliance For Change (AFC) will find itself in a ‘tight spot,’ come tomorrow’s sitting of the National

The late Dr. Walter Rodney

Assembly. The party will be placed in a position where it has to choose between voting along government lines and voting for what it believes in as an independent party.
Tomorrow is Private Members’ day. This simply means that the opposition’s business will take precedence over government’s business. The standing orders provide for Private Members Day on every fourth sitting of the National Assembly.
Despite this, President David Granger is also scheduled to address the House tomorrow. Also, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic opposition has tabled a series of motions.
Among the motions is one that stands in the name of Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira. This addresses the non-release of the Walter Rodney report.
Teixeira’s motion, titled “Report on the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry,” has three whereas clauses and one resolve.
In her whereas clauses, Teixeira notes that the report on the COI appointed to enquire and report on the circumstances surrounding the death in an explosion of the late Dr. Walter Rodney was handed over to the Government of Guyana on February 10, 2016. She also pointed out that the Government made public commitments to table the Report of this Commission in the National Assembly, but 77 days have passed since the Government is in possession of the Report.
Teixeira’s motion resolves to have the National Assembly call on the Government to table the Report of this Commission within two weeks.
The PPP/C does not have control of the House, it sits in the minority. Therefore, it has no power to pass anything on its own strength.

“BLIND SUPPORT OF APNU”

PPP/C Chief Whip,
Gail Teixeira

The AFC had publicly stated that it wants the government to release the report.
In a public missive the AFC had expressed the view that the report “affords the country an opportunity to address a difficult period of its history.” The Party said that it hopes that the report forms the basis for national healing and reconciliation.
Teixeira, when contacted yesterday said that she does not hold much expectations of the AFC sticking to its guns. She said that it is highly unlikely that the AFC will “depart from its blind support of the APNU.”
Teixeira said however, that in light of AFC’s public announcements, it will be “interesting” to see how the party will manoeuvre. The Chief Whip said that it will indeed be a pleasant surprise if the party can stand up in what it believes. She added, “Politics is like cricket, totally unpredictable at times.”
In 2013, 33 years after his death, the PPP/C government announced a COI into the death of the famous Guyanese who was described as a scholar, historian, activist, formidable orator and, in his latter days, a politician.
Dr. Rodney, co-founder of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), was killed when a bomb exploded in a car in which he was an occupant. He was 38 years old at the time.
Rodney’s brother, Donald Rodney, who suffered injuries during the explosion, claimed that Former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) electronics expert, Sergeant 4141 Gregory Smith, had given the politician the bomb that killed him.

AFC leader,
Khemraj Ramjattan

It was alleged that Smith planted the bomb in a walkie-talkie that blew up on Rodney’s pelvic region while he was on John Street, Werk-en-rust, between Hadfield and Bent Streets, less than 100 metres from the Camp Street Prison.
There have also been claims that Rodney’s assassination was set up by the government of Forbes Burnham, whom Rodney was opposed to. This was because his assassination came at the height of a planned civil rebellion against the Burnham-led administration.
But Burnham’s party, the People’s National Congress (PNC), had firmly denied being any part of the bomb blast killing. Both the WPA and AFC had welcomed the announcement for the official probe.
In 1974, Rodney returned to Guyana from Tanzania. He was due to take up a position as a professor at the University of Guyana, but the Burnham government prevented his appointment.
He became increasingly active in politics, founding the WPA, a party that provided the most effective and credible opposition to the PNC government at the time. In 1979, he was arrested and charged with arson after two government offices were burned.
After his assassination, Rodney received several honours. In 1993 the government of Dr. Cheddi Jagan posthumously gave him the country’s highest national award, the Order of Excellence and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was established at the University of Guyana.
Rodney’s death was also commemorated in a poem by Martin Carter entitled “For Walter Rodney.”