Still no report on Rodney Inquiry

TIMES INT'L

Even with an extension granted to Commissioners probing the circumstances leading to the death of Dr Walter Rodney, Government has not yet received the final report of their findings.

Up to late Tuesday evening, Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams said as far as he was aware, Government had not yet received the final report by the three-member panel which was due on December 15.

Chairman of the Commission, Barbadian Queen’s Counsel, Sir Richard Cheltenham had requested from President David Granger additional time for the Commission to meet to continue further inquiries; however, this was denied.

The team, which includes Jamaican Queens Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown and Guyanese Trinidadian Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam, was instead given another two weeks to complete the final report to hand over to the Head of State.

Head of the Secretariat Hugh Denbow had told Guyana Times International recently that Commissioners during their last conference call had indicated that they were having some challenges with time, as they all live in different jurisdictions.

He said the Commission’s Chairman, Sir Richard Cheltenham had written President Granger last month. He could not say, however, what the letter was about, and what concerns, if any, were raised with the Head of State.

Commissioners and lawyers had in July of this year, blasted Government for what they said was the premature end to the investigation into the death of the Working People’s Alliance Leader. The contention was that the move would definitely rob the Commission of a comprehensive, thorough and fair outcome.

Rodney, a founding member of the Working People’s Alliance, died on June 13, 1980, when a bomb said to be planted in a walkie-talkie device exploded while he sat in a car outside the Georgetown prison. His family and members of the party he founded maintained that his death was the mastermind of the then People’s National Congress, led by Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham.

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