There is some amount of uncertainty surrounding the continuation of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (COI) and according to newly-appointed APNU+AFC Attorney General Basil Williams he has to meet with the president to discuss the issue.
Williams told Stabroek News yesterday that in addition to President David Granger’s previous indication to not continue with it, the availability of funding could be a deciding factor. Millions of dollars have so far been spent to hold the inquiry. Last year, Granger in his capacity as Leader of the PNCR had said that the party would not support any additional funding to the commission should it receive any further extension.
The party warned that the cost to the country could exceed US$1M.
“It might be phased out”, Williams told Stabroek News but did not disclose when the matter is scheduled to come up for discussion.
Secretary to the commission, Hugh Denbow said last evening that the next session of the inquiry was to begin from June 22 but no one had told him anything.
He said that efforts are being made to have him meet with the Minister of State Joseph Harmon for some direction on the way forward.
Meanwhile, the commission lead counsel Glen Hanoman opined that it would be a waste of money not to continue and he is certain that if given the opportunity the inquiry could come to an end in 15 to 20 working days. “Even two two-week sessions would be good enough I think”, he said. Hanoman, who said that he is in the “dark” having just recently returned from abroad, stated that the inquiry has gone too far for it to now be abandoned. According to him it has gone more than half way and based on the evidence presented so far, he feels that there is enough information before the commission for a final pronouncement to be made.
He said that the commission started off “by giving everyone a chance” so as not to be seen as biased or unfair but if money becomes an issue he feels he can cut down the witness list.
“We could wrap it up with 10 witnesses… If the president gives a directive we can finish. We can subtract some of the witnesses who are not important and just wrap it up”, he assured.
Rodney, the co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and an activist who had openly opposed the then PNC government, was killed in a car near John and Bent streets on June 13, 1980, after a walkie-talkie given to him exploded. The PNC – a constituent of APNU – has long been accused of killing Rodney despite repeated denials over the years.
The then Ramotar government had said that it wished to open a COI to clear up all outstanding questions surrounding the death.
In early 2014, Barbadian Sir Richard Cheltenham, Jamaican Queen’s Counsel (QC) Jacqueline Samuels-Brown and Trinidad and Tobago Senior Counsel (SC) Seenath Jairam were sworn in as commissioners by President Donald Ramotar.
However the PNCR leadership had said that the COI was part of a plot orchestrated by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to “provoke resentment against the PNCR rather than to pursue the truth.”
The PNCR had announced that it would not be a participant in the proceedings. However, the party eventually decided to field a legal team at the COI’s public hearings to watch over its interest.
Williams was the lead attorney for the PNCR during the proceedings and had questioned many of the persons who testified.
