Sir Richard Cheltenham QC, newly-appointed Chairman of the international Commission of Inquiry (CoI) established to probe the 1980 murder of political activist Dr Walter Rodney, is optimistic of making headway despite the passage of over three decades.
“The fact that it happened 30 years or so ago need not be any bar to a full exposure of what took place and for the commission to make some firm conclusions,” he said after being sworn-in at the Office of the President, where he revealed that there will likely be over 100 persons testifying.
Sir Richard, a Barbadian national, along with Jamaican Queen’s Counsel (QC) Jacqueline Samuels-Brown and Trinidad and Tobago Senior Counsel (SC) Seenath Jairam took the Oath of Office before President Donald Ramotar.
Dr Rodney, a renowned academic and political activist, died in a car near John and Bent streets on June 13, 1980, after a walkie-talkie, given to him by now deceased Guyana Defence Force member Gregory Smith, exploded. The People’s National Congress (PNC) administration, then headed by late president Linden Forbes Burnham, whose reign had been opposed by Rodney, has long been blamed for the murder. The party, however, has continuously denied any responsibility.
Members of the government, including Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Presidential Advisor Gail Teixeira and Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, were present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Noticeably absent were members of the opposition, including the Working People’s Alliance party, of which Dr. Rodney was the co-leader at the time of his death.
Sir Richard was knighted in 2005 and is a QC and the holder of a Ph.D. He was part of the inquiry into the July 27, 1990, attempted coup in Trinidad and Tobago. Samuels-Brown, is the attorney for the Office of the Contractor General, an anti-corruption agency. She represents both private citizens and those in public offices. Jairam, a Guyanese by birth, is engaged in private practice in Trinidad and Tobago, where he is the current president of the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago. He was also a former High Court judge.
After conferring with his fellow commissioners, Sir Richard sought to assuage skepticism about the usefulness of the CoI in light of the passage of time since Rodney’s death. Pointing out that the fact that the killing occurred a long time ago may lead persons to believe that an inquiry at this stage would serve no purpose and the facts would not be ascertained, he related his experience as part of the Trinidad and Tobago inquiry. “You would be surprised to know that we had just about 100 witnesses testifying and many of them remembered the events as though they happened yesterday and (there were) several pieces of documentary evidence that allowed us to have no difficulties in finding facts and coming to conclusions…,” he noted.
Sir Richard added that there are many potential witnesses for the inquiry who did not want to provide statements until the commission had been established. With the commission now set up, he said these persons would be prepared to come forward to give their statements.
He explained that it was too early for him to indicate precisely when the inquiry will start its work. However, he disclosed planned meetings yesterday with the Commission’s Secretariat, which was established since July last year. He said that the Secretariat will be advising him as “to how ready they are in the process of evidence gathering and how many witness statements they have already prepared and if not how soon they are likely to have enough prepared so that we can start the inquiry.”
According to the Chairman, when the inquiry starts, it is expected that it will sit on the average two weeks at a time. He added that it was too early to say how long the commission will sit and pointed out that a COI has its own dynamics and sometimes things don’t go according to plan. “We would hope nevertheless than in a month or month and a half at least we would be able to get started,” he said.
Although he said it is expected that there will be witnesses who will wish to be heard in camera, for which they will have to have good reason for doing do so, he noted that the inquiry would be open to the public and its broadcast is possible although the details are still to be worked out.
In June last year, to coincide with the 33rd anniversary of Rodney’s death, the PPP/C administration announced the decision to set up the international CoI, finally yielding to calls made during its over two decades in office. Critics have accused the PPP/C of not doing enough to forge ahead with an inquiry into Rodney’s death and allowing evidence to disintegrate or be lost. Since Smith’s death it has been argued that many questions could not be answered. Smith, who had fled to French Guiana, was charged in absentia with the murder in 1996.
Opposition coalition APNU, of which the WPA is a constituent, and the AFC had both welcomed the announcement of the inquiry last year.
Meanwhile, the members of the Commission of Inquiry yesterday paid a courtesy call on Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Mark Phillips at his office, Defence Headquarters, Base Camp Ayanganna.
A release from the GDF said that Brigadier Phillips congratulated the Commissioners on their appointment, noting that the Commission of inquiry was long awaited by the Guyanese people.
During discussions, the release said that Phillips and his team, which included Deputy COS Col Kemraj Persaud and other senior officers, presented an outline of the intelligence apparatus of Guyana and assured the members of the commission of the Force’s assistance and co-operation.
The release said that members of the Commission also highlighted their commitment to bringing closure to the matter.
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