An online petition is calling on the Guyana Government to release the report from the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) done on the death of politician and historian Dr Walter Rodney and to change ‘death by misadventure’ to ‘murder’ on his death certificate.
The petition, which has been signed by 350 persons so far including PPP/C’s Chief Whip in the National Assembly Gail Teixeira, was started by Ajay Murphy and it is not clear if it has the support of Dr Rodney’s family.
It also calls on the government to implement the recommendations of the CoI and for the late stalwart’s profession to be changed from ‘employed’ to ‘historian/politician’ on his death certificate. Further, the petition also calls for the overturning of the conviction of Donald Rodney and the expunging of any related criminal history.
The CoI had been set up in 2014 by then President Donald 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, President David Granger had said that the inquiry would come to an end.
The report was delivered in February to the Office of the Attorney General, a day after it was to be handed over to President Granger.
The commissioners who had been given three extensions to hand in the report, said in their defence that they 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 CoI concluded that Rodney was the victim of a state-organised assassination and this could only have been possible with the knowledge of then PNC Prime Minister Forbes Burnham.
In the most detailed examination to date of a 36-year-old mystery that deeply divided the country and stained the image of the PNC, the three-person inquiry, also found that the late soldier Gregory Smith carried out the killing and was then spirited out of the country to French Guiana in an elaborate operation spearheaded by the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force.
Rodney was killed by a bomb that was hidden in a walkie-talkie. He was 38 years old at the time and was married to Patricia with whom he had three children.
