THIRTY-FOUR years after that fateful explosion that carried away the life of Guyanese Walter Rodney, and four years short of thirty eight, the age at which he met his demise, there is finally established the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry.Highly acclaimed internationally as historian, intellectual, orator and political activist are all attributes which motivated him to form the political party known as the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).
He died in the year 1980 during the disastrous reign of PNC (now operating as APNU) terror and which resulted in extreme antagonism between the then ruling PNC and WPA.
Circumstances at the time demanded that the authorities should have satisfactorily mounted a thorough investigative inquiry into the explosion that took place in the motor car being driven by Rodney’s brother Donald. There was none and the case remained officially uninvestigated until this Government took the decision to establish a Commission of Inquiry (CoI), which starts work on Monday April 28, 2014.
The illogical delay in finally mounting a CoI is filled with bizarre speculations which focused on the attempt to hide the truth behind what has been termed an assassination, fueling the belief that political intervention was behind the dastardly act, hopefully the ongoing CoI will finally determine the TRUTH, which is really the thrust of the Inquiry.
Naturally, the question must arise as to who or which entity is afraid of the truth emerging; an astute mind creates the necessity of examining the attitudinal responses, or lack thereof, by related natural affected entities in this highly politicised country.
Rodney’s incisive oratory created much fear in the minds of his political opponents, any further remarks on this subject must be left for the CoI. But the refusal of the PNC/APNU to participate in the work of the CoI will be noted with raised eyebrows, an unfortunate phenomenon. There just cannot be any credible excuse for this lapse.
The people of Guyana and indeed most of the world will be observing the progress of the work of the CoI, its conduct will be closely followed but there should prevail an aura of confidence about its ability to satisfy the maximum scrutiny bearing in mind the impeccable credentials of the three Commissioners comprising Sir Richard Cheltenham (Chairman), Jamaican Queens Council (QC) Jacqueline Samuels-Brown and Trinidad & Tobago Senior Council (SC) Seenath Jairam.
Guyanese will forever be indebted to these luminaries for agreeing to serve this country in the realisation of bringing closure to what has been a national demeaning indictment for all these thirty four years.
By David DeGroot