Initial monies approved for CoI not exhausted – President Ramotar

PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar has responded to queries on the possibility of additional cost owing to the extension of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney, and stated that the initially approved monies have not been exhausted.On April 15, Members of Parliament were unanimous in their approval of $112M to fund the work of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, an allocation that was listed under the Office of the President’s $2.2B current expenditure estimates in the 2014 Budget.
The President, however, did acknowledge the possibility that the extension of the Commission’s work could carry an additional cost. He said, “With these kinds of extensions, the cost could go up…the money as far as I am aware is not yet exhausted, but with the extension, there is the probability that the cost could go up.”
The work of the CoI was extended to September 2014. The COI was initially scheduled to last four months, following its April commencement date.
“We will have to go back to the Parliament (in the event that more money is needed), Mr. Ramotar said.
Rodney was killed when a bomb exploded in the car in which he was sitting. He was 38 years old at the time. Nine years ago, Parliament unanimously approved a motion to establish a commission to enquire into the circumstances surrounding his death.
President Donald Ramotar had agreed, in June 2013, to establish the COI following a request from the Rodney family, after a previous inquiry ordered by former President Desmond Hoyte in 1988 found that the historian/politician’s demise was caused by an ‘accident or misadventure’, and that was met with grave disbelief.
Additionally, the establishment of a COI was supported by a Parliamentary motion that spawned the decision to establish the Commission of Inquiry: “On the 13th June, 1980, Dr. Walter Rodney, a distinguished Guyanese scholar, was assassinated by an explosion which occurred in his car at John and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown. Dr. Rodney was, at the time of his death, an eminent political leader engaged in democracy and social justice in a struggle against authoritarian rule. There have been calls for a full investigation into the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney which have received broad support.
“The National Assembly, in paying tribute to the memory of this illustrious son of Guyana, and on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his untimely and tragic death, supports an enquiry being conducted into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Rodney.”
After his assassination, Rodney received several honours. In 1993, the Government of Dr. Cheddi Jagan conferred on him the country’s highest National Award, the Order of Excellence (OE); and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was created at the University of Guyana.

(Vanessa Narine)