PROBING THE KILLING OF DR WALTER RODNEY

-politicking and challenges ahead
FINALLY, 34 years after Dr Walter Rodney, the internationally famous historian, intellectual and political activist, was tragically ripped apart in a bomb blast in his car on the night of June 13, 1980 in Georgetown, a three-member team of distinguished Caribbean legal experts has been established to begin their probe into the circumstances of his death.”Assassination” has always been the unofficial verdict hurled by the party of which he was a founder-leader—Working People’s Alliance (WPA)—as well as from thousands of Guyanese supporters, of various ethnicities and status, across Guyana. They continue to squarely blame the then “dictatorship” of the now late President Forbes Burnham for the shocking crime of murder.

The very challenging, perhaps unenviable, task of the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) is to unearth the truth-particularly in view of the deaths, from natural causes, of some key figures—not the least being that of a secretly recruited former Sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Gregory Smith.
An electronics expert, he died some years ago in neighbouring Cayenne in French Guiana, to which he was facilitated in escaping, according to reports, by the then Guyanese authorities, and where he had started a new life.

The COE trio is comprised of Barbados’ Queen’s Counsel, Sir Richard Cheltenham (chairman); Jamaica’s Queen Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, and Guyana-born Senior Counsel, Seenauth Jairam, who lives and works in Trinidad and Tobago.

The commissioners were sworn by President Donald Ramotar, as Guyanese were winding down from annual nation-wide ‘Mashramani’ celebrations of Guyana as a constitutional republic and while Trinidadians were immersed in the final stages of their internationally famous carnival.

It has not gone unnoticed that during his long years as Head of Government and Head of State, Mr Burnham, whose People’s National Congress (PNC) NEVER acquiesced to recurring calls for an independent probe into Rodney’s death from various political parties and non-government organisations, as well as from the widow and children of the slain historian-a charismatic advocate for fundamental human rights and social, economic and political changes in Guyana.
Focus on Gregory Smith

When efforts were subsequently made, after 1992, with a change in government, led by the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) of the now late President Dr Cheddi Jagan to, among other initiatives, seek the cooperation of the government in Paris for extradition of Gregory Smith as a key person of interest in the bombing death of Rodney, the French authorities made it clear that it was not their policy to extradite an individual back to his country of birth to face a likely death sentence since France was opposed to the death penalty.

Earlier efforts by national and regional human rights advocates and organisations to secure the involvement in a probe into Rodney’s death by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) had also proved fruitless.

In a telephone interview I had done as a regional correspondent for the then Caribbean News Agency (CANA) with Gregory Smith, while he was still in French Guiana, the former GDF sergeant and electronics expert claimed that the tragedy “was an accident” and that he was “sorry” but preferred not to offer any further comment.
And since the Burnham-led governments or the PNC under his leadership never demonstrated any positive interest in initiating an independent inquiry into the circumstances of Rodney’s death, it was left to his successor as President and party leader, Desmond Hoyte, to initiate a Coroner’s inquest. This followed renewed pressures, in particular from the iconic cultural/political activist and a founding figure of the WPA, Eusi Kwayana.
Eight years after Burnham’s passing, and in the absence of efforts to summon key witnesses and ensure scientific evidence, the inquest concluded that Rodney’s death had resulted “by accident or misadventure…”
Disagreements over CoE

There remain some political peculiarities-post-passing of both Burnham and Hoyte. Among these would be passage of a parliamentary motion calling for an independent probe into Rodney’s death. Only, however, after the opposition of PNC and WPA parliamentarians had succeeded in excluding the word “assassination” with the argument that it would prejudge the circumstances of the historian’s death.

Subsequently, and prior to Guyana’s last general election in November 2011, the WPA most surprisingly opted to team up with the PNCR— under the leadership of retired Brigadier of the GDF, David Granger, to contest the national poll under the political umbrella of convenience known as APNU—A Partnership for National Unity.

For this “partnership” ex-Brigadier Granger-always a “comrade” of the PNC and the WPA’s “brother” Rupert Roopnarine, academic and writer, happen to be, respectively, APNU’s chairman and deputy chairman. You think party politics in Guyana “easy”?
Readers would anxiously await the very challenging findings of the three-member Commission of Enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr Walter Rodney. But at the time of writing there were discouraging developments over the probe process.
Of particular significance are the WPA’s sharp criticisms about non-consultations by the government on the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the CoE as well as a public statement by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) to boycott the work of the probe team altogether.
Once, like the now defunct Caribbean Human Rights Work, the GHRA was quite active in pressing for a reputable independent probe into Rodney’s death. It has now expressed deep disappointment over the government’s failure to consulate with the WPA in determining the ToR for the independent probe into his death.
Secondly, it has raised serious concerns, as earlier done by the WPA, over the offer of “pardon” to persons who may be found “guilty” of any act that contributed to the death of Rodney.
Disappointing development

It is regrettable that such disagreements should have arisen after the long years of waiting for an independent probe into Rodney’s death. And if it’s not too late, perhaps the government could be advised to amend, in consultation with the Commissioners, the terms of reference.
Analysis by RICKEY SINGH

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