TWO sitting Members of the National Assembly, as well as a number of other Constitutional Office Holders, are all guilty parties in an elaborate State-sponsored plot to eliminate members of the Working Peoples Alliance (WPA), including of its founder, Dr Walter Rodney in 1980. The names of the guilty will, in the meantime, remain with a key witness giving evidence to the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (COI), which recommenced its latest round on Monday, and continued yesterday.

Robert Gates yesterday returned to the witness dock, this time for cross-examination after submitting a second statement to the Commission, and indicating that a lot of information now presented had either been deliberately withheld by him in the past, or he had completely forgotten at the time, since the incident being probed occurred 34 years-ago.
SECURITY REASONS
Gates said in the instances where he deliberately withheld information, he did so because of security concerns for himself.
In his sworn testimony to the COI, Gates said he approached the Commission to give a second statement with new information, since at the time he had previously given evidence, the “environment” was not right for him to divulge all that he knew.
He told the Commissioners it was only because he was able to put some measure of “insurance” in place, that he decided to approach the Commission, in order to disclose what he still knows.
“I am not in a free world like you,” Gates said by way of explaining why he had to put certain covert systems in place that would allow for him to be able to finally say what he knows.
Responding to a quip by one of the attorneys present, Gates told those in attendance that a person can easily lose their lives in prison, so he deliberately held back some of what he knew, “for security reasons.”
BURNHAM BRIEFED
On Monday last when Gates took to the witness dock, he alleged that former President, Forbes Burnham, reportedly held a meeting “two or three days” before the fateful June 13, 1980 explosion that killed Dr Rodney.
Under cross-examination, he maintained that he was informed of the nature of the meetings by one of Burnham’s close-man (security detail), a man he identified as a Sergeant Mark Johnson, who told him that the president was briefed on the developments of the assassination plot.
Under oath, Gates told the COI that he learnt that the former President was briefed by former Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis; former Crime Chief, Cecil ‘Skip’ Roberts; and then Army Chief, Norman McLean.

IN-CAMERA
A confidante of Burnham’s, identified as Cecil Ram, was also reportedly present at the meeting.
When asked to name those he alleged to be the guilty Parliamentarians and Constitutional Office Holders, Gates declined, saying he would only do so during an in-camera session, where such information could not be divulged to the public.
The former Guyana Police Force rank, who claims to have infiltrated the WPA under the directive of the State, was asked directly by Commissioner Seenauth Jairam to name the other persons he alleges are guilty parties in Dr Rodney’s death.
“I don’t want to, for security reasons,” Gates said. He said that should he be granted an ‘in-camera’ session, “I am prepared to do that.”
Chairman of the Rodney COI, Queen’s Counsel, Sir Richard Cheltenham of Barbados, indicated that they will look into the matter of facilitating the hearing ,and that Gates will be advised accordingly.
The commitment by the COI Chairman was preceded, however, by an intense scrutiny of Gates’ credibility as a witness.

CREDIBILITY
He was grilled by the Commissioners and Attorneys representing various interests, including Basil Williams, Christopher Ram and Keith Scotland of Trinidad and Tobago.
Jamaican Commissioner, Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels – Brown was particularly interested in why the change in content of the statements that were submitted to the Commission by Gates.
She was told by the witness that it was 34 years since the incident occurred, and some things might have been forgotten.
Other bits of information, he said, did not seem relevant at the time, but in retrospect, he has decided to divulge what he knows to the Commission.
His credibility as a witness did get a boost, when Commissioner Samuels–Brown pointed out the existence of a letter from the Office of the Commissioner of Police, outlining Gates’ service record.
The official document from the Police Commissioner’s Office to the COI seemingly corroborates Gates’ story that he was given a bogus Letter of Dismissal from the Guyana Police Force, as a ruse to help him infiltrate the WPA.
A ‘Service Record’ was also supplied by the Office of the Commissioner of Police, and that corroborated the dates and years that Gates claimed to be a serving member of the Police Force and assigned to penetrate the WPA.
Gates on Monday told the COI that it was former Crime Chief, ‘Skip’ Roberts who handed him the letter to convince WPA Co-founder, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine of his loyalty to the Party and its cause.

CONVICTIONS
Another document supplied to the Commission saw Gates taking flack for two convictions against his name.
Gates claims that the charges and convictions against him were all trumped up, with at least one seeing former Police Commissioner, Laurie Lewis, having a hand in it.
The Commission heard that Gates was charged with obtaining money by false pretense, convicted and sentenced to two years in prison back in 1993.
In 2013, Gates was again charged and placed before the courts, this time around for 18 counts of fraudulent conversion.
While six of those matters were dismissed, he was sentenced for the remaining 12 counts.
He has, however, in his defence, argued that the matters are civil and stem from contractual misgivings.
According to Gates, in 1993, it was simply a case of where he paid a supplier for some cars to be imported from Japan, but said supplier never came through, and as a result he could not supply his customers with their cars at the time.
He said that at the time of his conviction in 1993, he did not have the means to appeal as he did with his 2013 court matter.
Gates’ 2013 conviction is currently pending an appeal, and he has managed to secure bail of in excess of $1M, which he says he is currently unable to pay, as it is too excessive.
Gates told the Commission that in 2013, it was the same that obtained in that he paid for cars to be shipped from overseas but the suppliers somehow bungled the transactions, and as a result he could not supply his customers who had paid for their vehicles.
Gates said that the court was supplied with evidence of a number of people having transacting business with him and receiving their product and that the incidents that landed him before the courts were instead isolated.

TRUMPED-UP CHARGES
He did not have kind words for the Magistrate handling his 2013 conviction, and argues that not only are they accusing him on ‘trumped-up charges’, but he has been sentenced beyond the maximum allowable sentence for that offense.
In fact, Gates is of the opinion that the 1993 conviction should not be held as a blot against him, since, based on his understanding, the time has passed when such a conviction does not have to be reflected on his record.
As it relates to his 2013 legal woes, Gates argued that since his conviction is being appealed, this, too, should not be held against him.
Sir Richard Cheltenham, the Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry, did caution all involved that while Gates may have convictions against him, it does not automatically mean he was telling a lie when it comes to the information he divulges on the Rodney incident.
NOT FABRICATIONS
During Gates’ cross-examination by Attorney-at-Law, Basil Williams, the counsel suggested that the information being supplied by Gates were in fact fabrications, some simply designed to smear Burnham’s name.
Williams suggested that even if Burnham did have a meeting with his security chiefs, there was nothing untoward about this, to which Gates queried: “At his home, Sir?”
Gates was adamant that what he has told the Commission about what he does was in fact the truth, and not fabrications as was being put to him by the Attorney.
Gates, who has presented himself to the COI as a security specialist, was also grilled by Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram on his credentials.
According to Gates, he is the holder of an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from the Penn Foster College in Texas, which he obtained in 2005.
He said, too, that he also has a Diploma through a Professional Investigative Correspondence Course he pursued in California which he obtained in the late 1980s.
Gates told the Commission too that he is also a member of the International Association of Investigative Specialists, an organization he joined four years ago.
In addition, the witness said that he has conducted numerous investigative and specialised security courses for the Guyana Police and Defence Force, Prison Service, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA), and the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc among other entities.