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PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar has approved the establishment of an International Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the assassination, 33 years ago, of brilliant Guyanese historian/politician, Dr. Walter Rodney. The announcement was made, yesterday, on the 33rd anniversary of Rodney’s death, by Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing.
Speaking at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, Luncheon said the Administration has noted the inconclusive results of past inquiries into Rodney’s demise and his family wants the matter to be dealt with in a manner that would end all the speculations.
Rodney was a strong critic of the former People’s National Congress (PNC) Government led by the late President Forbes Burnham and died when a remote controlled bomb exploded in his lap while he was sitting in a car, with his brother, Donald, at the wheel.
An ex-Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier, Sergeant Gregory Smith was identified as the army’s electronics expert who gave Rodney the explosive disguised as a ‘walkie talkie’ and the latter was testing the device on specific instructions from the former.
Smith fled to French Guiana where he remained until he died several years ago.
AGAINST CAPITALISM
Rodney, who campaigned against capitalism, argued for a socialist development template.
The Jamaican Government, led by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, banned him from that country in October 1968 because of his advocacy for the working poor there and that led to riots which, eventually, claimed the lives of several people and caused millions of dollars in damages.
The disturbances, which started on October 16, 1968, are now referred to as the ‘Rodney Riots’ and they triggered an increase in political awareness across the Caribbean.
When Rodney returned to Guyana, he was supposed to take up a professorship at the University of Guyana (UG) but the then Government blocked his appointment.
He became increasingly active in politics and formed the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) which fought against the PNC Government.
Rodney is survived by his widow, Patricia and three children, who, in 2004, donated his papers to the Robert L. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center in the United States (U.S.).
Since 2004, an annual ‘Walter Rodney Symposium’ has been held every March 23 (his birthdate) at the Center, under the sponsorship of the Library and the Political Science Department of Clark Atlanta University and under the patronage of the Rodney family.
Speaking at Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, Luncheon said the Administration has noted the inconclusive results of past inquiries into Rodney’s demise and his family wants the matter to be dealt with in a manner that would end all the speculations.
Rodney was a strong critic of the former People’s National Congress (PNC) Government led by the late President Forbes Burnham and died when a remote controlled bomb exploded in his lap while he was sitting in a car, with his brother, Donald, at the wheel.
An ex-Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier, Sergeant Gregory Smith was identified as the army’s electronics expert who gave Rodney the explosive disguised as a ‘walkie talkie’ and the latter was testing the device on specific instructions from the former.
Smith fled to French Guiana where he remained until he died several years ago.
AGAINST CAPITALISM
Rodney, who campaigned against capitalism, argued for a socialist development template.
The Jamaican Government, led by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, banned him from that country in October 1968 because of his advocacy for the working poor there and that led to riots which, eventually, claimed the lives of several people and caused millions of dollars in damages.
The disturbances, which started on October 16, 1968, are now referred to as the ‘Rodney Riots’ and they triggered an increase in political awareness across the Caribbean.
When Rodney returned to Guyana, he was supposed to take up a professorship at the University of Guyana (UG) but the then Government blocked his appointment.
He became increasingly active in politics and formed the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) which fought against the PNC Government.
Rodney is survived by his widow, Patricia and three children, who, in 2004, donated his papers to the Robert L. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center in the United States (U.S.).
Since 2004, an annual ‘Walter Rodney Symposium’ has been held every March 23 (his birthdate) at the Center, under the sponsorship of the Library and the Political Science Department of Clark Atlanta University and under the patronage of the Rodney family.
