RODNEY’S DEATH: AN ENIGMA BEING ANSWERED
Special Report on the Rodney Commission of Inquiry by Shaun Michael Samaroo

WITH Crime Chief Leslie James watching the scene with a distinguished, quiet demeanor from the witness stand yesterday at the High Court, nasty verbal hostilities erupted at the Presidential Commission probing the alleged political assassination of Guyana’s outstanding scholar, Dr Walter Rodney.

Counsel for the People’s National Congress (PNC), Mr Basil Williams, stormed in a sudden outburst that the Commission “attacks” the PNC, and the functionaries who held power during the period when a deadly bomb blast rocked

Georgetown on June 13, 1980, instantly killing Guyana’s outstanding scholar and populist political leader, Dr Rodney.

At the time that his death shocked the world and plunged Guyana into political dismay, Dr Rodney led a massive national movement opposing the dictatorial PNC Government which rigged national and local government elections, and abused citizens’ rights, inculcating severe economic and social hardships on Guyanese.

Since the Presidential Commission commenced its historic probe early in 2014, the PNC adopted an antagonistic stance towards its work, and in fact opted out of full participation, with Williams acting as its Counsel.

Despite fulfilling a 34-year old national outcry for a Commission of Inquiry to probe Dr Rodney’s assassination after the bomb explosion in his lap as he sat in his car at around 8 pm on Friday, June 13, 1980, the PNC and its sympathisers label the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry as merely Government propaganda.
Yesterday, Commission Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham cautioned Williams on the Counsel’s method of asking the witness, Crime Chief Leslie James, questions during cross examinations. Sir Richard pointed out that Williams seemed to be using his cross examinations to make “submissions”.
The Chairman, a distinguished Barbadian Caribbean legal luminary, labelled one of Williams’ comments “a propaganda line from outside”, and insisted the Commission would have none of that.
Commission members, Sir Richard, along with Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam of Trinidad and Tobago and Jacqueline Samuels-Brown of Jamaica, engaged Williams during Counsel’s cross examination of James, seeking to direct him in his line of questioning.

Williams, in his cross examination of James, read extensively from Donald Rodney’s statement to the police after escaping the bomb blast that killed his brother, Walter. The Commissioners found Williams’ method odd.
Yesterday’s session followed two days of intense testimony from widow of Dr Rodney, Dr Patricia Rodney, who wept as she recounted the dark days of Guyana’s history, when the then PNC Government had her and her family under constant surveillance and when herself and her husband feared for their lives, moving across secretive “safe houses” to avoid danger.
Eventually, her husband, Dr Rodney, was assassinated in the bomb explosion in his car.
The Commission is gathering evidence from scores of witnesses, some of whom travel to Georgetown from around the world, to bring closure to the injustice that the Guyanese nation suffered with Dr Rodney’s brutal political killing.
Under intense suspicion of orchestrating and carrying out the nefarious conspiracies and intelligence intrigues that resulted in Dr Rodney’s cold-blooded assassination, the PNC chose to adopt an antagonistic stance towards the Commission, and opposition forces in the country insist that the Commission serves as a propaganda machine for the Government.
However, Dr Pat Rodney, in her testimony, said she welcomes the Commission’s probe, noting that it would bring about necessary “healing” and closure to a cold case that has dogged her and the three Rodney offspring, Guyana, the

Caribbean and the world, for decades.
The Commission’s work inevitably zeros in on the PNC Government, as it held State power in the period under probe, the years 1978 to 1980.
But, despite full cooperation and participation from the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the coalition national movement that Dr Walter Rodney led when he was assassinated, the PNC insists on demonising the Commission, implying that the distinguished Commissioners may be associated with political propaganda, an implication that President Donald Ramotar has dismissed, noting the distinguished integrity and experienced professionalism of the Commission members.
The Commission has stirred widespread international interest, and receives full coverage in the national media. Since its commencement, it has unearthed, through witness testimonies, damning evidence of political intrigue, widespread abusing of human rights, and nefarious State control over people’s private lives under the PNC Government during the period 1978 – 1980.
These facts paint a grotesque picture of Guyana during the period that Dr Rodney was assassinated, when Guyana plunged into a dark age of political fear, when the Rodney family had to be smuggled out of their home and country to live in Barbados, and when the U.S. granted asylum to the Rodney widow and children. They received American political asylum through the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown after the assassination, Dr Pat Rodney testified this week at the Commission.
Dr Pat Rodney traveled from her home in Georgia, USA, to testify this week at the Commission. The Chronicle plans to cover her testimony in an in-depth feature on Sunday.

For the past 34 years, experts, academics and commentators across the world have voiced suspicion that the PNC actively assassinated Dr Walter Rodney, and the Commission’s probe could shed light on this in a real way, either cementing those suspicions as fact, or exonerating the PNC.
However, the PNC refuses to fully cooperate with the Commission, and yesterday’s verbal fracas adds intense drama to the process.
Those who oppose the Commission’s probe wage a national media campaign to tarnish the reputation of the Commissioners as political propagandists, and insist on politicising the Commissioners, thus harming the noble intent of the Presidential Commission: to bring healing and closure to a dark period of Guyana’s history.
This session of the Commission’s sitting resumes on Friday, with Commission Counsel Glen Hanoman hoping he would have received the records from the Frequency Management Unit’s head, Dr Valmicki Singh, identifying who was granted permission to operate a communication device on the frequency band 151.025. Hanoman is waiting for a response from Singh on this request.
At Friday’s sitting, the Crime Chief will resume the stand for further cross examination from other Counsels.