-Teixeira calls it ‘absolutely bizarre’

By Ravin Singh
THE existing political atmosphere during the time of Dr Walter Rodney’s death lends support to the possibility of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) killing the renowned scholar, as the party appeared to have been losing political support to him at the time. This was the argument advanced by the Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Basil Williams during his presentation on the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report in the National Assembly on Friday morning.

According to Williams, there were several theories about the death of the prominent leader which were proposed by the Chairman of the Commission, Queen’s Counsel Sir Richard Cheltenham. These included; Rodney’s colleagues killing him, death by negligence, or that the Forbes Burnham-led administration killed him.
However, the AG said he then asked Cheltenham about a fourth theory which was greeted with a startling expression by the counsel. This theory, Williams said, “was [that] the PPP killed Rodney.”
He attempted to support this contention by reasoning that the party, which was in opposition at that time, “was paranoid about losing support throughout the country.”
Williams referenced a verbatim report of the August 7, 2014 sitting of the commission, which was within the context of the PPP and Rodney’s party – the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) – agreeing that they would collaborate to remove the then Peoples’ National Congress (PNC) from executive office.
Then Crime Chief Leslie James was being questioned in the verbatim report, and he [James] said that, “The WPA and PPP joined talks. The WPA said it was holding talks with the PPP towards the formation of a united front to get rid of the PNC government.”
James went on to state that, “The WPA said that there were some minor differences between the WPA and the PPP, but both Dr. [Cheddi] Jagan (of the PPP) and top members of the WPA vowed to iron out their differences and form their united front as the main priority in the struggle.”
The AG said that the attempt by the two parties to oust the PNC government at that time was “no problem,” but that the real problem developed when the PPP discovered that the WPA was “poaching their members.” “This was a problem that they [PPP] had throughout the country” Williams said, as he went on to point out several instances when this occurred.
Referencing the verbatim report once more, he said that James was quoted as saying, “The PPP has recently warned its activists on the East Bank of Demerara to be very careful in their dealings with activists of the WPA.
“They [PPP activists] were told that the WPA was encroaching on the membership of the PPP and that if they were allowed to continue, then the PPP would be without any members which could become very embarrassing to the party.”
According to the report, James was also on record as saying that, “[The]PNC [was] losing support.” He observed that the WPA had gained lots of support among PNC members and were even trying to encroach on PPP members.
But he said that though PPP members might give them financial support, these PPP members would not support them in any elections. It made reference to one Perry Al, who said that John Milton, a former PPP activist, was using his influence among PPP supporters to win support for the WPA.”
This second set of PPP members, who the WPA was reportedly beginning to encroach on, were said to have been from Reliance, East Canje, Berbice. As such, the AG, who was laughing lightly at this point in time, told the House that, “the East Bank of Demerara was bawling [and] Canje was bawling.”
Further supporting his belief was another verbatim report of February 16, 2015 in which the current PPP General-Secretary, Clement Rohee, was quoted as telling the commission that “Discussions were centred on the secretary’s report and emphasis was placed on a directive, pursued by the party [PPP]. They stated that no member of the party [PPP] must assist the WPA with the field work unless otherwise directed by the PPP executive.”
The directive stated that failure to comply with this instruction would result in disciplinary action.
Given these circumstances in the lead-up to Dr. Rodney’s death, Williams posited that it cannot be said, based on the balance of probability, that it is improbable that the PPP might have had a motive to get rid of Dr Rodney.
“So Mr Speaker, you could see that throughout the country, the PPP was troubled; they were paranoid about losing support to the WPA. So when you look at the tenure of the whole inquiry, they are saying it must be the PNC because Rodney was attracting large crowds in the PNC’s stronghold. If they’re saying it was the [then] Government because the [then] Government was losing support to the WPA, how is it different from the PPP?” he questioned.
The AG went on to state that all he was doing was attempting to show that there were other theories about how Dr Rodney met his death because no one, other than his (Rodney’s) brother was there with him, so there was no way of saying definitively who killed Rodney.
But this was outright rejected by PPP Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, who said that it is “absolutely bizarre” to say such a thing. She went on to describe Williams’s notion as a “mad man’s theory.”
“The theory is absolutely bizarre and it is the psychology of a mad man. It cannot have credence in this House,” she said.
The Chief Whip stood in defence of her party, reasoning that the mechanisms which were put in place to aid the alleged killer Gregory Smith in securing a French passport after which he freely left the country, was impossible for the PPP or WPA to do during that time.
She also denounced claims that the CoI was a “political ploy” to gain political mileage in the 2015 elections, since news of the 2015 elections came subsequent to the establishment of the CoI. The commission was set up on Feb 8, 2014.
However, the no-confidence motion by the then combined opposition which triggered the 2015 elections was not presented and passed in the House until the end of 2014.