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

What happened to critical GDF records, missing military weapons from Rodney era?
– Army Officer testifies intelligence and security files, guns missing, unaccounted for
– Attorney Christopher Ram says GDF hierarchy engaged in ‘massive’ purge of Rodney-era records

“There was no (military) documentation available for the period 1979 – 1980.” Those words from senior Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer, Lieutenant Colonel Sydney Charles James, echoed throughout the hallowed halls of the High Court in Georgetown yesterday where the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry is probing Guyana’s dark, violent political atmosphere that resulted in the bomb blast assassination of Dr Walter Rodney.What happened to critical files at the GDF concerning the turmoil, conspiracies and political violence that Guyanese suffered under the government of the People’s National Congress (PNC)?
That searching question dogged the Commission of Inquiry yesterday, as two senior GDF officers testified that the Army lacks knowledge of several missing files.
In fact, Lieutenant Colonel James, who today answers to Chief of Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips, on Intelligence and Security matters in the Force, yesterday testified to the Commission that when he took over command of his post in 2007, not only was there no documentation available for the period at reference, but he couldn’t explain the unavailability either. Said he: “There was no documentation available for the period 1979 – 1980… [and] I cannot give an explanation for the absence…”

‘…in August, 2008, I conducted an Internal Investigation to determine whether weapons on charge to the Guyana Defense Force were issued to external organizations. This investigation was on the directions of the then Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Gary Best, based on a number of weapons which were recovered in the Mahaicony Creek after a shootout between members of the Guyana Police Force and criminal elements’ — Lieutenant Colonel Sydney Charles James

According to Lieutenant Colonel James, military record keeping only showed up from the year 2000 onwards. “The files I took over related to intelligence and security matters pertaining to investigations, operations and administrative matters generally from around 2000,” he said. “I cannot give an explanation for the absence of records before that time.”
The appearance of several GDF military officers before the Presidential Commission has resulted in frustrating efforts to glean information, gather files and garner what role military leaders played in the political violence that resulted in the death of several political activists in Guyana in the 1970s and 1980, which culminated in the assassination of populist intellectual and revolutionary leader, Dr. Rodney.
The Commission is probing the circumstances, political atmosphere, and general situation in Guyana in the 1978 – 1980 period that resulted in Dr Rodney’s assassination, which shocked the world, and caused consternation in the Caribbean, where the Guyanese scholar was highly respected, and his writings read with avid interest.
After sitting dormant for 34 years, with two previous efforts stymied, the Commission got underway this year under the determined leadership of President Donald Ramotar, who, after meeting with one of Dr Rodney’s family members in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, had promised to see the probe launched.
Dr Patricia Rodney, widow of the late Dr Rodney, had made a direct plea to the Government to probe how and why her husband died the way he did on the evening of June 13, 1980, long regarded as one of the darkest periods in Guyana’s history.
The Commission’s work is exposing the horrible political conspiracies and nefarious schemes that stifled socio-economic development in Guyana, and caused several questionable political deaths, including that of Catholic Priest, Father Bernard Darke, who was fatally stabbed during a peaceful political street protest on Brickdam in 1979.

MYRIAD OF QUESTIONS
Today, the Commission, comprising Chairman, Sir Richard Cheltenham of Barbados, Seenath Jairam of Trinidad and Tobago, and Jacqueline Samuel-Brown of Jamaica, seeks answers to a myriad of questions, allegations, conspiracies, suspicions and nefarious underground schemes that witnesses have revealed to the Commission, in written statements and through examination and cross examination from a battery of attorneys and defense counsels.
The Commission’s hearings have galvanized interest and questions into the role of top Army officials and PNC Government operators who caused Guyana to descend to such a political pit that political activists were being killed.
Witnesses testimonies paint a picture of a Guyana being subjected to a repressive political plot under the PNC Government, where double agents, intelligence officers of the Guyana Police Force and the GDF, and senior PNC Government leaders planned and schemed to maintain political power, even if it meant taking the lives of opposition leaders.
The Working People’s Alliance (WPA), which Dr Rodney led with powerful ideas and strong unity across the country, bore the brunt of the PNC Government’s harassment tactics, as well as the several attacks carried out at political meetings by a religious cult aligned to the PNC Party.
The period saw the massive rigging of national and local government elections, and the Commission’s probe has so far unearthed testimonies detailing how the religious cult aided the PNC Party in hijacking ballot boxes, and exercising fraudulent voting practices.
The situation got so draconian, undemocratic and maliciously mean that the GDF Army started transferring military weapons to a notorious PNC Government Ministry, namely the Ministry of National Development.
Lieutenant Colonel James shocked the Commission yesterday when he said in his signed witness statement that “in August, 2008, … I conducted an Internal Investigation to determine whether weapons on charge to the Guyana Defense Force were issued to external organizations. This investigation was on the directions of the then Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Gary Best, based on a number of weapons which were recovered in the Mahaicony Creek after a shootout between members of the Guyana Police Force and criminal elements.
“During the course of that investigation, I had cause to examine documents held by the five Service and Support Battalion concerning the Force’s weapon inventory and issues to external organizations. I recovered documentation and original vouchers which indicated that several categories of weapons were issued from the Guyana Defense Force to a number of external organizations and individuals…”
Lieutenant Colonel James listed two pages of military weapons issued to external organisations, dating back to 1976, and including 1979. The GDF handed over several rifles and guns to one Skeete, whom James fingered as a staff member of a PNC Government Ministry, where ex-PNC leader, Robert Corbin played a leadership role. Corbin’s name came up several times during James’ testimony.
For example, on August 10, 1979, the Army handed over to Skeete fifty (50) M10 handguns and bullets; twenty (20) Beretta 9mm SMGs with bullets; fifteen (15) M70 Assault rifles; and five (5) M72 guns.
Then on May 18, 1976, the GDF handed over several military weapons to R. Corbin of the Ministry of National Development, including eight G3 rifles; 20 Beretta SMGs; 15 SLR rifles; and 15 S&W (Smith & Wesson) handguns.
Lieutenant Colonel James said several missing military weapons have not yet been recovered.
Yet, critical records and files for this period of the activities of the GDF cannot be found, and the Commission’s work now includes sourcing these records.
The events at the Commission over the past two days have prompted Defense Counsel, Christopher Ram to put to witness Lieutenant Colonel Cargill Kyte, who testified yesterday morning, that the GDF military “hierarchy” was involved in a “massive coverup” of the GDF’s role in the clandestine operations of the 1979 – 1980 period, when Dr Walter Rodney was assassinated.
Lieutenant Colonel James resumes his stand on the witness box today, as the Commission’s hearing in this session heats up, now with a long list of missing military weapons issued to the PNC Government through the Ministry of National Development, joining the long list of records and files missing from the archives and stores of the GDF.