Special Report on the Rodney Commission of Inquiry by Shaun Michael Samaroo

Omawale testifies of ruthless ‘PNC Dictatorship’
– which carried out ‘State terrorism’

DISTINGUISHED Guyanese academic and former political leader, Omawale, blames the “dictatorship government” of the People’s National Congress (PNC) for the assassination of his close friend and confidante Dr. Walter Rodney, claiming the “PNC Dictatorship” carried out “State terrorism”.

Omawale yesterday told the Presidential Commission probing Dr Rodney’s bomb blast assassination that the “State” of the “PNC Dictatorship…(as that period is known)” carried out an act of “terrorism” in planning and executing the bomb explosion on Friday, June 13, 1980 on Camp Street in Georgetown.
That explosion shattered Dr. Rodney’s lower body, after a communications device exploded in his lap as he sat in his car, killing him instantly. His brother, Donald Rodney, is the only eye witness to the assassination, escaping from the car after the explosion, seriously wounded and bleeding.
Omawale travelled from his home in Florida, United States, to testify at the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, his first public testimony of what transpired in those dark days of Guyana’s history.

Omawale’s Witness Statement deals with several attempts to kill leading members of the WPA, including Josh Ramsammy, who was shot while in his car but escaped death, Dr. Clive Thomas, himself, Omawale, as “next on the list”, and others. He also mentions the actual killing of Father Darke on the day that he, Omawale, along with Walter Rodney and Rupert Roopnarine were released from the Camp Street prison, and the killing of Edward Dublin and OheneKoama, who “were killed for no discernable reason other than” associating with the WPA.

Appearing calm, relaxed and conversational, Omawale easily answered questions from Counsels for the Commission and other interested organisations.
His Witness Statement to the Commission adds to a burgeoning file of written, signed statements that the Commission is compiling of witnesses who come forward to testify of how and why Dr. Rodney was assassinated as he led a peaceful populist national uprising against the repressive, oppressive PNC dictatorship.
Omawale gave the clearest testimony so far at the historic Commission about the brutality of the PNC dictatorship against the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and the leader of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

“The Dictatorship had moved from the more subtle intimidation and subversion to brutal disruption of meetings and destruction of equipment, and now to plain extra-judicial murder”, Omawale said in his statement to the Commission.

Deep in his admiration for Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Omawale organised a public meeting at Parade Ground in Georgetown, and invited Dr. Jagan to speak on the platform, along with a number of other people, including Eusi Kwayana. Dr. Jagan’s name appearing as speaker “caused disquiet among the PNC leadership and I was called to an audience with the Head of Government,” Omawale said yesterday.
Omawale’s cousin, Hamilton Green, gave the message of the proposed meeting to Omawale, and took him to meet Forbes Burnham. “Mr. Burnham greeted me cordially and indicated that he wanted my cousin to ‘put some sense’ into my head. He initially engaged in a bit of light banter, including recounting some of his misogynistic sexual exploits with which he thought I would empathise. At one point he suggested that my joining his Government would substantially increase my power at the University (of Guyana) and in the society at large. He scoffed at my somewhat naïve response that I was not interested in power. He insisted that everyone was interested in power and everyone had a price. Then he turned to the subject of the proposed public meeting. He said that I should disinvite Dr. Jagan or call off the meeting because he could not allow me to give a platform to Dr. Jagan in Georgetown. I politely indicated…we would be determined to hold the meeting and to have Dr. Jagan speak was our democratic right. Before I left his office, Mr. Burnham warned that I ‘will see that the meeting will not be held’.”
Omawale, determined, proceeded with the meeting. “I invited Dr. Jagan to the microphone which was attached to the stand. Before he could say a word the microphone was snatched from his hand by a thug who then used it to hit Dr. Jagan in his chest. Considerable commotion ensued and the meeting was broken up by a horde of plain clothed Afro-Guyanese thugs apparently allied with the PNC,” Omawale said in his signed, written statement to the prestigious Commission.
Dr. Rodney and Omawale attended school together, and worked alongside each other in the debating team at Queen’s College and the school’s Historical Society, and the editorial boards of the school newspaper and magazine.
Although moving off to different institutions to further their education and career, the two close friends maintained constant contact, with Omawale visiting Dr. Rodney at his home in Tanzania.
“Our fraternal bonds were further cemented in the period immediately before his murder when, as WPA activists, we waged daily struggles” against the “oppressive” PNC dictatorship, he said, noting that “like his friends and colleagues, I remain saddened and outraged by the assassination of Walter Rodney and I wish to assist the Commission by testifying about the atmosphere in the period leading up to, and around the time of, his death”.
Speaking in a gentle, pleasant tone, with a peaceful expression on his face, his whitened grey beard and full head of white hair giving him an air of dignified bearing, Omawale stood in the Witness Box, answering questions from Counsel with ease and confidence. Today he faces off against potentially hostile cross examination by Counsel for the PNC, Mr. Basil Williams.
Williams ended his two-day absence at the Commission’s hearing when he appeared for a brief minute to inform the Commission that he would commence his cross-examination of Omawale this morning.
Omawale’s Witness Statement deals with several attempts to kill leading members of the WPA, including Josh Ramsammy, who was shot while in his car but escaped death, Dr. Clive Thomas, himself, Omawale, as “next on the list”, and others. He also mentions the actual killing of Father Darke on the day that he, Omawale, along with Walter Rodney and Rupert Roopnarine were released from the Camp Street prison, and the killing of Edward Dublin and Ohene Koama, who “were killed for no discernable reason other than” associating with the WPA.
“The Dictatorship had moved from the more subtle intimidation and subversion to brutal disruption of meetings and destruction of equipment, and now to plain extra-judicial murder,” Omawale said in his statement to the Commission.
He talks of banned food items, dictatorship of the State press and media, the Death Squad of the Police Force attacking and harassing people, severe restriction on travel, his own safetyprecautions to escape death, living in fear and planning his movements with care and caution, and the banning of free, independent media and importation of newsprint.
“Life in Guyana under the…PNC Dictatorship was oppressive for anyone who opposed (Burnham) or his party. Distributing…opposition fliers was often not met only with hostility but physical abuse. There was intolerance of peaceful protest and severe restrictions on our freedom to travel, even within the country.
“I believe the oppressive environment of Burnham’s PNC Dictatorship really explains the tragic events of June 13, 1980. The constant intimidation and harassment of the WPA … would lead any reasonable leader to seek home-made communications devices,” Omawale said, implying that the communications device that suspected GDF intelligence officer Gregory Smith supplied to Dr. Rodney on the night he was assassinated was an attempt by Rodney to improve inter-party communication in the WPA.
Instead, the device was disguised as a bomb, and exploded in his lap, killing the world famous historian and scholar instantly, forever transforming the history of Guyana and the Commonwealth Caribbean.
The case has remained unsolved for 34 years, until President Donald Ramotar convened the current Commission, constituting distinguished legal luminaries from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, along with a battery of Counsels. The Commission is also in answer to a recommendation by the International Committee of Jurists, and a three-decade old worldwide clamor for a Commission of Inquiry into Dr. Rodney’s assassination, including from his widow Dr. Patricia Rodney and their three children.
Now, Omawale joins a long line of witnesses who testify at the Commission that worldwide suspicion pinning the assassination on Gregory Smith, acting on behalf of the State of the PNC Government, including the GDF and the Police Force, and Ministries, may indeed be fact.
When the Commission – which President Donald Ramotar extended to January, 2015 to conclude its hearings – is ready to write its report on the Rodney assassination, the documents, witness statements, records and other material evidence that would be available to it from the Commission’s work would amount to a mammoth mass of information.
The documentary evidence being accumulated is testimony to the horrors of the darkest period in Guyana’s history, but also serves as a monument to the life and service of Dr. Walter Rodney, Guyana’s outstanding son, to his nation.
As his close friend and confidante, Omalwale expressed satisfaction yesterday that this Commission would accomplish the long-awaited justice and healing that is duly due the fearless freedom fighter, Dr. Walter Rodney, who wanted a free, democratic Guyana where freedom of the press prevailed, where citizens could travel freely, and where citizens could self-develop easily, and in full freedom.