Governing coalition partner the WPA today again called on the government to release the report on the commission of inquiry into the killing of its leader, historian Dr Walter Rodney.
In a statement it also maintained that Rodney was murdered at the direction of the government of the day – headed by the now PNCR, the main component in the governing coalition – and by forces aligned to the State because of his political activity.
A statement by the WPA follows:
WPA notes that the Stabroek News in its Friday, November 1, 2019 edition carried an article under the caption, “Pat Rodney calls again on gov’t to make Col report on Walter Rodney public.” The paper reported that Mrs. Rodney was speaking at an event, “Guyana Speaks,” in London on Sunday, 27th October 2019. She is reported to have repeated the call for the government of Guyana to formally release the report of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry and for the authorities to act on the recommendations therein.
The newspaper report appears to suggest that the WPA is against the release of the report and is somehow in a conspiracy with the government to suppress it. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is no secret that the issue of Walter Rodney’s assassination and the abrupt termination of the COI by President Granger upon his assumption of office in May 2015 remains one of the sore points in the relationship between the WPA and the leadership of the PNC and the government. The WPA has tried hard not to allow the President’s partisan attitude to the Rodney Col and its findings to undermine the stability of the Coalition. In so doing some people have misread our attitude and feelings on the issue.
WPA has never wavered on its firm belief that our brother was murdered at the direction of the government of the day and by forces aligned to the State because of its political activity. His assassination was part of a reign of terror by the then regime against progressive and revolutionary forces, in particular the WPA which had openly and courageously challenged the it. Two other WPA members, Ohene Koama and Edward Dublin, along with Catholic priest, Fr. Bernard Darke, were also cut down by the regime during that period. The findings of the COI confirm what we know to be the truth. It is an undeniable fact that Rodney has been victimized both in life and death by the actions and inactions of successive Guyanese governments. This is a painful reminder of the coarseness of Guyanese politics and a political culture that is hostile to mature and civilized human relations.
When the COI was terminated, WPA leaders berated the president and the government for what we saw as a narrow partisan act that was unbecoming of a leader of a multi-party government. At the urging of Mrs. Rodney, WPA again adds its voice in support of her call on the Guyana government to formally make public the report of the COI. We also support her call for the implementation of the recommendations. Whatever the feelings of the President and his party about the findings, they should no longer hide the report from the Guyanese people. By continuing to suppress the report, they are unnecessarily prolonging this sad chapter in our country’s history . We reiterate our historical position that all outstanding issues relevant to this matter that negatively affect the Rodney family be addressed by the government and the State. Towards this end, the WPA intends to formally engage the president on this issue. For the WPA, the matter of Rodney’s assassination is unfinished business.
WPA takes this opportunity to address the cheap criticisms of our party on the issue of Rodney and the WPA’s membership of the APNU and the APNU+AFC Coalition. WPA frowns on those who have sought to use Rodney’s name for cheap political gains. Rodney has in death become a plaything for a group of political hypocrites. Many who today sing praises to Walter Rodney never joined his cause when he was alive or in the difficult period following his assassination. Some dismissed him as an adventurist while others taunted him as an “ultra-leftist and a “Black Intellectual.” The then leader of the PPP went as far as telling supporters that Rodney promised Guyana Christmas present, but they instead got his body on a platter, These same people today maliciously try to tie WPA’s membership of the APNU and the APNU+AFC government to a fictitious betrayal of Walter Rodney and our party’s core principles. They have made that line part of their narrative aimed at breaking up the Coalition.
WPA will not allow its critics to misrepresent what Rodney stood for. We wish to remind Guyana that in 1979 Rodney was one of the key architects of the WPA’s proposals for a “Government of National Unity and Reconstruction” which was aimed at putting an end to one-party governance. He spent a lot of time on the political platform arguing for mass support for such a government. The WPA at that time did not see a role for the PNC in such a government on the grounds that it was not a democratically elected government. But, in 1985, Brother Eusi Kwayana, on behalf of the WPA, announced that our party would join the PNC in a unity government if that party agrees to free and fair elections. As we know the PNC in 1990 in negotiations with the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy, which included the PPP, WPA, the DLM and other forces, under the mediation of President Jimmy Carter agreed to free and fair elections.
WPA’s movement, therefore, towards partnership with other political forces with which we differ ideologically and politically is consistent with the Rodneyite principle of national unity and reconciliation. WPA continues to believe that ultimately only a broad-based government of all political forces under a power sharing government could bring the desired healing that our country cries out for. But in the meantime, we are prepared to work with all forces that are committed to incrementally work towards that end. We see the APNU and the APNU+AFC as avenues to a genuine Government of National Unity and Reconstruction.
WPA has not joined any party; we have joined with other parties in pursuit of one of the core principles of our party—national unity and reconstruction. WPA’s membership of the partnership does not diminish our independence. Far from it, our independent praxis is now needed more than ever. But we will not allow others to dictate for us how that independence should be manifested. Some of our leading members have publicly and consistently taken the Coalition to task on key issues over the last five years and they will continue to speak out against wrongdoing and in support of a wholesome politics. WPA has never discouraged such critiques because they are consistent with our traditional values. We are the only party in the Coalition whose members have spoken out against the wrong turns made by the Coalition Government. That the president has on more than one occasion tangled with our leaders in the public domain is glaring testimony to that fact. WPA’s participation in the Coalition is not grounded in blind loyalty to any other party—our loyalty is to Guyana and the pursuit of a wholesome politics.
More recently, the issue of the Cash Transfer proposal has brought to the fore the WPA’s independence of thought and the ideological difference between the WPA and its partners. Our stand with the poor and the powerless is not premised on cheap electoralism, academic abstraction or political gimmickry, but on a deep commitment to a humanist politics. But our ideological difference does not blind us to a larger need for national consensus. We respect diversity and plurality as key components of Guyana’s political and socio-economic reality. It was one of our leaders, Professor Clive Thomas who in 2005 opined that the real test of a party’s mettle is not how well it works with those with whom it agrees, but by its ability to find common ground with those with whom it does not share the same values and culture.
WPA cherishes its independence and will never sacrifice it in the name of political expediency. WPA has recommitted to the Coalition as a matter of national duty. Our relations with our partners going forward would be governed by a convergence of mutual respect, consensus and our right to take independent positions on overarching matters that have to do with defence of the poor, democratic values and political morality. In other words, WPA will be guided by a praxis which is grounded in the synthesis of consensus and independence.
WPA’s role in the current election campaign will be more visible and in keeping with our understanding of our place in contemporary Guyanese politics. We will articulate within the Coalition and beyond the views and aspirations of the critical mass in the wider population who share our political culture and positions on issues. We will lend our voice and ideas to the collective Coalition platform, but we will also use the opportunity to rally the country to a more uplifting political culture that is bigger that electoral contestation. When we speak, we will bespeaking with the voice of the people, especially the poor and the working classes of all races and ethnicities.
