“I am very sorry”

– Ex House of Israel priest apologises for beating PNC opponents during ‘dark days’

Former Priest of the House of Israel, Joseph Hamilton on Thursday publicly apologised for the mass attacks he helped carry out on persons standing in opposition to the People’s National Congress (PNC) Government during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Hamilton, during his testimony to the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Dr Walter Rodney, had informed the commission that his participation in the cult movement had found him and other members being involved in violent acts against persons who opposed the Government of the day.

He said the PNC had infiltrated the organisation through its leader David “Rabbi Washington” Hill, a fugitive from the United States who had found himself in Guyana during that period.

Standing resolutely after his cross-examination before the three-member commission, Hamilton said he was sorry for all the pain he had inflicted on individuals during the time. “Over time I have worked politically with many of the Working People’s Alliance [WPA] members, but it is the first time I’m saying how profoundly sorry I am to engage in those activities in the specific period,” Hamilton, a former PNC executive and now Parliamentary Secretary for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) said.

Profoundly sorry

“As we dwell on the WPA, I would say all other political parties that were harassed, terrorised, brutalised, armed, put in danger at the specific time. Any citizen whom we would have dealt with in this abusive and violent way. I would say to the Guyanese people at large, how profoundly sorry I am,” he told the Commission.

He revealed that he holds an interest in the lives of Guyana’s youth, having two sons himself, and that is also another reason for him stepping forward.  “I wanted young people to get an opportunity to understand and so that in their sojourn, would ensure that this country of ours never return to that place”.

He continued, “As much as you try, I would say respectfully, you would be unable to grasp the time.

“As I said, it is only those who lived the time will have a full understanding, an appreciation for the time. As I said only the oppressor, the oppressed and the victims, only they can only understand the time. Reading a book can only give you snippets.”

He pointed out that he was quite aware of the consequences that his testimony would incur. He is, however, prepared to live with these consequences.

Hamilton said he was now depending on the compassionate nature of the Guyanese public, to offer its sympathy and forgiveness. Hamilton’s testimony at the Commission, implicated former Leader of the PNC Reform Robert Corbin, alleging that he had been actively involved in the distribution of weapons to the House of Israel. Hamilton had also implicated then Government Minister Hamilton Green, noting that both he and Corbin were carrying out executive duties with the use of walkie-talkies at a massive rally in July 1979.

Penance

The revelations, however, did not sit well with the PNC leadership, as its lawyer at the inquiry, Basil Williams seemed enraged over the allegations which incriminated the two senior members of the political party. Williams had suggested to Hamilton that the true reason for his testimony was to get back at the officials, whose falling-out with him had led him to leave the party.

During his penance, Hamilton said: “I appear before the Commission, not on the House of Israel’s behalf, I have no such mandate to speak on the House of Israel’s behalf. I came here as Joseph Hamilton, Citizen, to speak to the Guyanese people.

There was no coercion, there was no master, and there was no one who contacted me, indicated to me. It was all Joseph Hamilton who by his own conscience came to this Commission to speak the truth as I know it. Whatever is said adverse of me, it matters not because I would have done my bit, cleared my conscience, freed myself and let me say finally, Mr Chairman, like Dr Martin Luther King “Free at last, free at last, thank God, I am free at last”.

Chairman of the Commission, Sir Richard Cheltenham congratulated Hamilton on his bold step. He noted that the promise laid out in the terms of reference about an absolute pardon is still in place and urged Guyanese to come forward with their statements, which may assist the Commission in reaching its objectives.