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Providing an update at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference at Office of the President in Georgetown yesterday, Dr. Luncheon said the commission would be housed in the Family Court, and funds would be appropriated to resource the body to discharge specific activities, many of which would commence even before the formal hearings of the commission; such as collecting data from various sources that have historically been involved, elaborating the terms of reference that would guide the commission, and identifying and appointing the commissioners.
Dr. Luncheon reminded that this CoI would be the most definitive of efforts to bring the perpetrators of Dr Rodney’s assassination into the awareness of Guyanese.
He said the commission and its work would be supported by contemplation of initiatives hitherto unused, such as immunity from prosecution and amnesty.
He said the Administration has noted the inconclusive results of past inquiries into Dr. Rodney’s demise, and that the Rodney family wants the matter to be dealt with in a manner that would end all speculation.
The late Dr. Walter Rodney was a strong critic of the former People’s National Congress (PNC) Government led by the late President Forbes Burnham. He 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, the late Sergeant Gregory Smith, had been identified as the army’s electronics expert who had given Dr. Rodney the explosive disguised as a walkie-talkie, and the latter was testing the device on specific instructions from the former. After the incident, Smith had fled to French Guiana, where he remained until he died several years ago.
Dr. Rodney, campaigned against capitalism, had argued for a socialist development template. The Jamaican Government, led by Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, had banned Dr. Rodney from that country in October 1968, because of his advocacy for the working poor there that had led to riots which had eventually claimed the lives of several persons and had caused millions of dollars in damage.
The disturbances, which had started on October 16, 1968, are now referred to as the ‘Rodney Riots’. They had triggered increased political awareness across the Caribbean.
When Dr. 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.
Dr. Rodney is survived by his widow, Dr. Patricia Rodney, 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 at the Centre every March 23 (his birth date) under sponsorship of the Library and the Political Science Department of Clark Atlanta University, and under patronage of the Rodney family. (Telesha Ramnarine)
PULL QUOTE: ‘This would be the most definitive of efforts to bring the perpetrators into the awareness of Guyanese,’ Dr Luncheon
