AFTER 66 days, 29 witnesses, and a four-month recess due to the May 11 elections, the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Leader, Dr Walter Rodney, is nearing an end. But the surviving immediate-family of Dr Rodney is calling for an extension of the Commission by two weeks for hearings, tipping their hand that the Commission might have come to a premature end.

Speaking on behalf of the Rodney family at yesterday’s CoI hearing at the Supreme Court was Attorney-at-Law Andrew Pilgrim. The Rodney family’s counsel is convinced that the decision by the David Granger Administration to bring the CoI to an end will place them in the range for much criticism. Particularly, he noted, criticisms of a nature that “they (the David Granger Administration) intended to politicise these proceedings.”
The attorney is calling for the Commission to engage the Government for a two-week extension of the hearings. The Rodney family, through their counsel, is convinced that the most important witnesses are yet to testify before the tribunal, which commenced work in 2014 at the request of then President Donald Ramotar.
Mr Ramotar demitted office after the May 11 polls which saw the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) defeated at the polls by the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition.
Since coming to office, the coalition Government has uncovered spending for the CoI to some $300M.
Soon after coming to office, the coalition Government decided to grant two days of hearings for the CoI, which would facilitate submissions of the Counsels representing the Rodney Family, former People’s National Congress (PNC) Government, the Guyana Trade Unions Congress (GTUC), and the brother of Dr Walter Rodney, Donald Rodney.
“Commissions of Inquiry are creatures of the Executive,” Chairman of the Commission, Sir Richard Cheltenham told the court yesterday, while explaining that this is not the first time a Commission of Inquiry has been brought to an early end due to a change in Government. Nonetheless, he reassured the right of the Government to terminate the Commission when it desires.
“What the executive arm cannot do and will never be permitted to do, and I must add that nobody has made an attempt to do, is to tell us as Commissioners what evidence we will find, what evidence we will reject, what weight to attach to the evidence, and what our findings, or fact, or recommendations will be,” the Commissioner continued.
The Rodney family is convinced however that a failure to complete hearings will diminish the thoroughness of the Commission’s report. The family believes that witnesses like Cecil ‘Skip’ Roberts, who was Crime Chief of the Guyana Police Force at the time of Rodney’s death in 1980; Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, now Education Minister, and a close friend of Dr Rodney; and Major General Norman McLean, who served previously as Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) should testify.
“I think we are all very much aware that the family of Dr Walter Rodney came to this hearing seeking some form of closure, and seeking to have a hearing that can be looked upon as being fair, and thorough, and done in the interest of justice,” the Rodney family’s lawyer told the court as he conceded that the Commission is a “creature” of the Government.
“It is our belief that with two weeks of public hearings, with the appropriate notices to the relevant witnesses, this Commission could be said to have done a complete and thorough job in light of all that has been achieved by this Commission so far,” Attorney-at-law Pilgrim continued.
The Rodney family counsel is concerned that letters have been sent to witnesses requesting their presence at the CoI on what would have been a Wednesday hearing.
“Those notices which seek to allow these persons their right to respond are sent against a background that the notice is inadequate. It is almost as if we are saying to them, we want you to have the opportunity to be heard, but we are not giving you the opportunity,” Pilgrim told the court.
The Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry will hear final submissions today, and the Commissioners will deliberate over the next three days on the direction of the report in terms of findings, as well as recommendations from the body.
By Derwayne Wills