Commission of Inquiry into Rodney’s death sworn

MEMBERS of the international Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of the late Dr. Walter Rodney were sworn in yesterday by His Excellency President Donald Ramotar.

The commission is headed by Barbadian Queen’s Counsel (QC), Sir Richard Cheltenham; Guyana-born Senior Counsel Seenauth Jairam, who has been practising in Trinidad and Tobago since 1979, and Jamaican QC Jacquelene Samuels-Brown.
The parliamentary motion to provide for the establishment of the CoI said: “On the 13th June, 1980, Dr. Walter Rodney, a distinguished Guyanese scholar, was assassinated by an explosion which occurred in his car at John and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown…Dr. Rodney was, at the time of his death, an eminent political leader engaged in a struggle, against authoritarian rule, for democracy and social justice…There have been calls for a full investigation into the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney, which have received broad support.

“…the National Assembly, in paying tribute to the memory of this illustrious son of Guyana and on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his untimely and tragic death, supports an enquiry being conducted into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Rodney.”
It has been 34 years since Dr. Rodney met his demise, and nine years since Parliament had unanimously approved a motion to establish a commission to enquire into the circumstances surrounding his death.
President Ramotor said: “We have just sworn in the Commission to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Walter Rodney and hope that it can, finally, bring a conclusion to the issues surrounding the death of Rodney.”
Sir Richard Cheltenham, Chairman of the Commission, said: “The death of Dr. Walter Rodney took place on June 13, 1980. It has certainly been a long

time since Rodney’s alleged assassination occurred.”
He posited that a CoI, at this juncture, may not yield much in relation to the assertion of facts. “There are over 100 witnesses to testify and it is too early to indicate, precisely, when the hearing will start,” he said.
Dr. Rodney, known as a historian and political activist, was killed on June 13, 1980, when a bomb exploded in the car in which he was travelling.
He was 38 years old at the time. After his death, Rodney received several honours. Among them, in 1993, the Government of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, posthumously, gave him the country’s highest National Award, the Order of Excellence (OE) and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was established at the University of Guyana.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally )