Rodney COI: Luncheon says PNC has last chance to testify

The Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry has been extended for a final round, and according to the Government, surviving PNC officials who had served under the Linden Forbes Sampson administration, are being offered a final opportunity to face investigators.

Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon on Wednesday informed reporters of government’s decision to extend the life of the commission for a four month duration.

This round, which comes to an end on March 31, has been extended to July 31 later this year.

This is the fifth extension of the commission which was established in April of last year, and which seeks to ascertain who was responsible for the death of founding member of the WPA, Dr Walter Rodney.

The Cabinet Secretary said with this extension, government would expect surviving members the then People’s National Congress (PNC) government to come forward with their testimonies.

“So far the witnesses have confirmed strongly held suspicion about the then PNC role in his death. The remaining gaps are so visible that Guyanese must be wondering why in the face of openness of this inquiry; the proceeding so far has not addressed those glaring gaps”, Luncheon said.

Fingers have always been pointed in the direction of the PNC government as the mastermind in the death of Rodney, who met his demise when a bomb, said to have been planted in a walkie talkie exploded in his lap.

“Why have those surviving PNC government personnel of that era not risen to the occasion and volunteer to testify as yet. What is so preventing them from doing so?”, Luncheon questioned.

Luncheon said the current crop of opposition members is very much aware of the occurrences back then.

“Mr. Corbin, Mr. Harmon, Mr. Granger have apparently declined participation even in the face of what appears to be testimony of their involvement attested to by previous witnesses”

According to the Cabinet Secretary, the proceeding so far has been “illuminating,” and the body of “evidence that points squarely to the role of the then Burnhamite PNC Government in Dr Rodney’s assassination in 1980.”

Rodney, a Historian and one of the major players in the establishment of the Working People’s Alliance, died at the age of 38 on the evening of June 13, 1980. At the time of his death he was in the company of his younger brother Donald, who had moments before collected the walkie-talkie; a device Dr Rodney reportedly had a growing interest in.

The brother has testified that before the Commission that the walkie-talkie was handed over to him by former Army Sergeant and Electronics Expert William Gregory Smith. Smith was said to have been used by the PNC government to carry out the act.

Granger, who was at the time Commander of the Guyana Defense Force had made it clear that he, nor the PNC would not be cooperating with the CoI and expressed several reasons including concerns about the Terms of Reference (TOR).

He maintained that he was not afraid of the truth, pointing out that the commission, set up by President Donald Ramotar, has political motives.

Joseph Harmon had said if the Commission found it necessary to summon himself or any other PNC member, it would.

The three-member Commission, headed by Barbadian Queens Counsel Richard Cheltenham, includes Jamaica Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels Brown and Trinidad Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam.