…commissioners seeking separate writer’s fee

AFTER claiming that he had run out of ink to print the final report of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI), Commission Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham has reportedly dropped off the document at the desk of the confidential secretary of Attorney General Basil Williams.

He is now demanding a writer’s fee in addition to the already huge sums of money received for sitting to conduct the probe.

Contacted by the Guyana Chronicle, the Attorney General confirmed that Sir Richard and another member of the Commission, Mr Seenath Jairam, S.C., had on Tuesday afternoon dropped off the report at his office.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that these commissioners have since departed the country without officially meeting with President David Granger. The report was slated to be handed over to the President on Monday during an official ceremony to which the media was invited. However, upon arrival at the Ministry of the Presidency, the media were informed that the event was postponed to a later time due to no fault of the Ministry of the Presidency (MotP).

In a subsequent press release on Monday, the MotP revealed that a “lack of ink” on Monday had stalled the handing over of the report.

Minister Williams, in an interview with some members of the media on Wednesday, said he found the recent actions of the Chairman to be disrespectful. “He [Sir Richard] couldn’t hand it [report] to me. I was in Parliament…I indicated that the President would not be available, so he did the next best thing and took it to my Chambers,” Williams said.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General revealed that the Commissioners have not yet been paid, and will not be paid until Budget 2016 is approved in the National Assembly.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that Finance Minister Winston Jordan had requested that the Commissioners produce their contracts, but this could not be done, since it was revealed that they had not signed any contract upon being hired by the Donald Ramotar Administration. According to Minister Williams, he finds this factor to be rather “disturbing,” since the Commissioners are now seeking a separate “writers’ fee” for compiling the final report.

“On this last trip, they were seeking some writing fee, whatever that is. This should have been included in the fees charged, so we don’t know about a separate writing fee,” the Attorney General said.

Almost $500 million have been spent to conduct the Inquiry over a period of two years, with more than $150M going towards the salaries of the three Commissioners. Another $16M had been spent to pay a reporter.

The team of international jurists was selected almost 34 years after the death of Dr Walter Rodney to probe the demise of the politician/historian. Dr. Rodney was killed on June 13, 1980 when a bomb exploded in a car in which he was an occupant.