Latest update May 6th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 02, 2016 News
The final report of the Commission of Inquiry, (COI) into the death Dr. Walter Rodney is expected
to be completed within a week. This disclosure was made as members of the Commissioners met with Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, yesterday.
Almost 34 years after his death, the team of international jurists was selected to probe the killing of the politician/historian. Dr. Walter Rodney was killed on June 13, 1980, when a bomb exploded in a car in which he was an occupant.
His brother, Donald Rodney, who suffered injuries during the explosion, alleged that a former GDF electronics expert, Sergeant Gregory Smith, had given the politician the bomb that killed him.
It was alleged that Smith planted the bomb in a walkie-talkie that blew up, destroying Rodney’s pelvic region while he was on John Street, Werk-en-Rust, between Hadfield and Bent Streets, less than 100 metres from the Camp Street Prison.
Smith died of cancer 11 years ago in French Guiana where he had gone to live, after he had fled Guyana
In an invited comment to the media yesterday, Chairman of the Commissioner Sir Richard L. Cheltenham explained that the members of the Commission will be meeting for a final compilation of the report before it is handed over to the President.
Sir Richard noted that the meeting is important since it will assist them in the avoidance
of overlapping and ensuring that there is a smooth presentation of the information since the Commissioners had been writing from three different jurisdictions.
Commenting on the fact that the Commission suffered a premature termination, the Chairman noted that given the nature of some of the evidence presented at the public hearings, it will mean that the report will not be as thorough as it would have been in other circumstances.
“It means too that since there were some individuals who that were critically commented on in the course of the evidence and did not get a chance to answer, we would very disinclined to make critical findings of fact to those people who were criticized but did not get the opportunity to answer those criticisms,” explained Sir Richard.
He said, too, that it is a Presidential Inquiry and the members are here at the invitation of the President to complete the report and hand it over within another week or so.”
Attorney General, Basil Williams, however noted that the administration does not necessarily view the termination of the hearing as premature.
“We believe that it is nearly two years now and there were several extensions and a lot of money was expended. The inquiry needs to come to end.”
With multiple adjournments and extensions under the former administration the Walter COI cost taxpayers approximately $325.1 million.
On June 13, 2013, former President Donald Ramotar appointed the Commission following a request from the Rodney family.
Although circumstances were unclear, Dr. Rodney’s death was said to be politically motivated.
The Donald Ramotar administration had said that such an inquiry was necessary to allow Guyana to start the healing process after more than 30 years of uncertainty concerning Rodney’s death, and to allow his family closure.
The Commission of Inquiry which consisted of the Trinidad-based Guyanese Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam; Barbadian Queen’s Counsel, Sir Richard Cheltenham, and Jamaican Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown commenced April 2014. They were expected to wrap up at the end of the year. The government later announced that it was extending the life of the Commission. This and other extensions continued for more than a year.
However, following the installment of a new government, the Chairman of the Commission requested a final adjournment to submit the report of the Commission’s findings.
In December, Sir Richard wrote to President David Granger requesting an adjournment to February 29, 2016. Sir Richard told the President that Christmas was the “Season where work is hardly done,” so more time is needed. He said that it is “common” in the Caribbean that work is not done at this time.
But the President declined the request. Granger responded that there is an “intense” programme scheduled for next year. It includes Local Government Elections and the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary Celebrations, so the request could not be accommodated.
GRA catch EXXON trying to hunch GUYANA over 11 BUS dollars in one shot!!!!
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