Once the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report has been reviewed by Cabinet it will be laid in the National Assembly and made public, President David Granger said yesterday even as he said that all aspects of the truth were not explored.
“Cabinet has not made any decision but in due course it will and I intend to release it. I am not afraid of releasing it and letting the public judge for itself”, he told reporters at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Since it was delivered several weeks and its contents later leaked to the media, there have been calls from all quarters for it to be made public.
Granger has already said that he found the report “deeply flawed”.
The media was told too that the PNCR, PNC at the time, which was fingered in the 1980 killing of historian Dr. Walter Rodney, will made a statement on the findings at a later date. The PNC was the government of the day when Dr. Rodney was killed after a walkie-talkie exploded on his lap.
A key finding of the CoI was that there was a conspiracy involving the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), the Guyana Police Force and others to kill Rodney and that then leader of the PNC and then president Forbes Burnham had to be aware of it.
Granger speaking to reporters stated that the report was laid before Cabinet on Tuesday and he was slated to meet with the central executive committee of the PNCR later in the day.
He stressed that the inquiry was convened at the behest of former President Donald Ramotar two years ago and “it is a government document”. He noted that all he is asking for is time to give the Cabinet an opportunity to peruse it following which an announcement will be made. The president said too that the PNCR as one of the six parties within the APNU+AFC coalition will make its own announcement in due course.
Asked if there is a chance of a second CoI being conducted given the publicised concerns including his own, Granger responded “no I don’t think it is going to be necessary to do that. I think that we need to bring closure to the matter. I think persons who wanted to speak have spoken and I respect their views and other political parties will make their opinions public I am sure”.
He said that he expects that once the matter is discussed at the Cabinet level, copies of the report will be sent to the Rodney family and laid in the National Assembly.
On the issue of former Crime Chief Cecil `Skip’ Roberts not taking the stand at the inquiry though he had been brought to Guyana by the Commission, Granger reiterated that Roberts was supposedly one of the persons who was privy to a conspiracy.
“One of the important elements in the evidence that was presented was the fact that some conspiracy took place. Four persons were supposed to be present at that conspiracy if I can call it that. Two are dead and two are alive”, he said adding that if it was so important one would have thought that the commission would have placed emphasis on having Roberts give evidence. “It is really bizarre that he should have been brought into the country and not be allowed to testify”.
Granger said that he doesn’t want to go into all the elements of the inquiry at present as Cabinet along with political parties should be given an opportunity to study the report after which conclusions can be made.
He said that “at all material times”, the party that he leads – the People’s National Congress- supported an international inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Rodney. He argued that in 2014, the party supported the inquiry but spoke about the Terms of Reference which it felt were prejudicial. He said that as a consequence the party published a pamphlet – “The Pursuit of Truth”.
Granger stated that the party feels that there were aspects of the truth which were “not fully explored or represented”. He said that PNCR was concerned with the truth and up to today still has that concern. “But keeping people away from the
commission for over two years suggests to me that there was some move to prevent people who knew the truth from providing the evidence”, he said in reference specifically to Roberts not being allowed to testify. The Commission has since pointed out to the President that Roberts would have been able to testify had the hearings not been curtailed by the APNU+AFC government after it entered office in May last year.
Unbelievable
Meanwhile PPP Executive member Gail Teixeira at a party press conference later in the day said that the party continues to demand that the report be made public.
”It must be made public and it is unbelievable that out of courtesy and respect that the widow of Dr. Walter Rodney has not been given a copy”, she said, adding that the government has been responding to the report in the public but has not make it public.
The CoI had been set up in 2014 by Ramotar to determine as far as possible who or what was responsible for the explosion that killed Rodney on June 13, 1980.
Shortly after taking up office in May last year, Granger had said that the inquiry would come to an end.
The report was delivered three weeks ago to the office of Attorney General Basil Williams, a day after it was to be handed over to President Granger. The commissioners were forced to print the report at the Marriott Hotel where they were staying as no printer was provided for them. The printer it was said ran out of ink and by the time a refill came it was almost time for the scheduled handover.
The commission was accused of being disrespectful to the president as it failed to not only deliver the report on time but also for sending it to the AG’s office instead of the Ministry of Presidency. Subsequently, a statement signed by Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham and one of commissioners was released to clarify some of the information being presented. In addition to explaining the delay in presenting the report, they said that it was Williams who first suggested that the report be taken to his office and later this was the instruction they received from the president’s secretary.
In the report it was stated that Burnham’s grip and absolute control over the Guyanese society was so firm and extensive that he de-humanised and belittled many Guyanese by compelling them to clean trenches, canals or drains.
The report found too that the late soldier Gregory Smith carried out the killing and he was then spirited out of the country to French Guiana in an elaborate operation spearheaded by the police and the GDF.
