Dear Editor,
Even after acknowledging all the advantages of holding the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Walter Rodney’s death, I believe that we need to look at the possible implications of this course of action and the dire consequences it may have on the general peace and harmony in our country when all would have been said and done.
Whatever comes out of this attempt to find the guilty party in this gruesome affair is bound to cast a shadow on relationships at various levels of our national co-existence, and we have to stop and think whether it would be worth it to dig up the past, when the time that has elapsed may work against our getting at the real truth.
Witnesses will have to depend on their memory to relate what they observed, and this can make the whole process very unreliable in getting at what really transpired.
Again, it is very unlikely that the person or persons who may be deemed responsible for the suggested assassination are still around to face the consequences of their actions.
If this CoI has been organised at this time because of some party wanting to score political points, then surely they have not assessed, or are unmindful of, the collateral damage that this may cause to the peaceful co-existence of our people, which in their position, they must surely be expected to have at heart.
I therefore call on the members of the commission to use this opportunity to just ascertain the real cause of death of this great son of our soil and refrain from naming any group or individuals suspected of being responsible.
Yours sincerely,
Roy Paul