Months after he testified at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of historian Walter Rodney, prisoner Robert Allan Gates once again took the stand yesterday, this time to claim that then-government had plotted to kill six persons, including Rodney and other members of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).
During the 48th hearing of the CoI, Gates further said that WPA member Dr Rupert Roopnaraine owed him his life as he had been one of the government’s intended targets and Gates had “let him go.”
According to Gates, out of the six plots he was aware of, he could name four offhand. Three of the four, he said, had been successful. These successful hits, Gates said, had been WPA activists Ohene Koama and Edward Dublin and Rodney. The plot to kill Roopnaraine had been unsuccessful.
Gates further said that then-president Forbes Burnham was aware of the plot to kill Rodney and had even been briefed by high ranking security personnel, such as late former police commissioner Laurie Lewis, on the plot to kill Rodney.
“My understanding is that he was being briefed on the developments pertaining to the plot,” Gates said. Gates believed that Burnham had been aware of the plot before the briefing and the meeting was just to update him.
Gates added that Burnham had been in a position to stop the plot to kill Rodney but failed to do so.
Gates is expected to take the stand again to undergo cross-examination. He had previously given evidence on June 5, 6, 23 and 24 last year. However, he had indicated in October that he wished to give further evidence before the commission.
When questioned yesterday by lead counsel Latchmie Rahamat about why he had chosen to return, Gates said he previously failed to recollect some events. Further, he said, he had needed time to assess the environment and the response following his testimony last year.
Gates yesterday testified that he began his own investigation in 2000. It concluded in 2001. The findings of his investigation, he said, proved to him that Rodney’s death had been state-sponsored.
According to Gates, the first successful plot was the killing of Koama. Dublin followed and then Rodney, he said.
Gates went on to say that the men were perceived to be threats to the state and persons involved in trafficking in arms and ammunition within the WPA.
Gates said he learned of the plot to kill Koama from two members of a death squad, of which he had been part. He had previously testified that the 13-man squad which was divided into three units – a patrol unit, an intelligence unit and a unit whose members executed people. He said while in a bar, he was warned by one of the men to stop his “handlings” with Koama and to make sure that he was never in a car with the WPA member. The adviser, Gates said, warned him because he was aware of Gates’ undercover assignments within the WPA.
Gates further said the man was “a cold-blooded killer” and he did not question the man for fear that he would doubt his allegiance to the state. Instead, he thanked the man for the warning, shared a few drinks with him and then left, he said.
“The agent was just giving me a friendly advice; he wasn’t mandated to,” Gates said.
This information was not passed on to the WPA and he did not question anyone within the police force about it because he believed that they were already aware of the plot to kill Koama, Gates said.
Gates added that Koama was killed about two weeks after he was warned. Koama had been killed in his neighbourhood and a number of weapons had been found in the trunk of his vehicle.
According to Gates, these weapons had been planted by members of the death squad and was a normal practice. He explained that this was done to paint the deceased as “dangerous” and the police would in turn claim necessity for the murder.
In the case of Dublin, Gates said he learned of the plot to kill the man on the day of his funeral. Gates said he received news of the murder plot from a police corporal who relayed the information to him in a bar. He said the corporal told him, “we just send home tha’ one Dublin”. It is then, Gates said, that he knew it was the state that had ordered Dublin’s death. He emphasized that officers did not act on their own but rather on command.
Furthermore, Gates said he was also aware of the plot to kill Rodney from members of the death squad along with information passed along to him by Rodney’s accused killer, Gregory Smith.
According to him, he was also guided by the climate at the time and he noted that Rodney had been classified as an enemy of the state years prior to his death on June 13, 1980.
Gates further said that from the intelligence gathered he knew that a walkie-talkie was needed to kill Rodney. He added that one was constructed to fit the needed design.
Gates was not the first person to take the witness stand and declare that the then governing People’s National Congress (PNC) had played a part in Walter Rodney’s death.
The PNC has long been accused of engineering the murder despite repeated denials. During the hearings, Rodney’s brother, Edward Rodney had testified that the House of Israel was a “hit squad” with links to the police and the then PNC government and among its members was Smith, the man accused of passing the explosive device to Rodney. Further, Rodney’s wife Patricia had testified that the Rodney family had undergone extreme state-sanctioned harassment.
Double agent
During his time on the stand yesterday, Gates also expounded on his activities as a double agent, with his first loyalty lying with the state and the second to the WPA.
Furthermore, his work for the state gained him the commendation of President Burnham, Gates said, and he was “handsomely paid” for his assignments.
According to Gates, he had been responsible for placing moles within the WPA and paying these moles for information. The sum, he said, varied according to his discretion. Furthermore, he said his subsequent investigations indicated that a close friend of Rodney had been an informant for the state. However, He did not have any interactions with her as an informant, he said.
Gates said he received about $30,000 or $40,000 to be used to fund moles. Though he did not name any of the moles, he said there had been about 3 or 4 of them. Further, he said, there were informants outside the WPA who lived nearby to where the WPA’s centre was located.
Gates further said that, for security reasons, he did not wish to give any names unless given permission to do so.
More details also emerged yesterday on Gates’s previous claims that Roopnaraine had been involved in gathering ammunition. Gates told the commissioners yesterday that he had managed to infiltrate the WPA and had gained Roopnaraine’s trust.
Gates had previously testified that Roopnaraine’s trust in him saw him gaining special assignments from the WPA member, including the uplifting of ammunition. Gates testified that he had received, on three occasions, a 5 lb milk tin from a man on Roopnaraine’s request. He said that he had met the man outside the National Park, behind the Pegasus Hotel, and finally at Parade Ground.
Gates further testified that the ammunition was kept at his home for quite some time before Roopnaraine would uplift it. However, before Roopnaraine could get to it, Gates said the ammunition would be collected and doctored by members of the state security. This was to ensure that if anyone attempted to use the ammunition they would “blow themselves into the sky,” Gates said before adding that this never happened, which indicated that the ammunition had never been used.
Gates also said that he had been involved in training Roopnaraine in using firearms. These training sessions began sometime around April of 1979.
At the same time, Gates said, he had been working assiduously with the state. He explained that he passed on information from conversations he had with Roopnaraine and anything he would have learnt from informants such as Rodney’s bodyguard ‘Bunny.’
Gates again said that he had even presented a “bogus” resignation letter to dupe Roopnaraine into believing that he had left the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Gates went on that even though Roopnaraine learnt that he had been placed as a spy within the WPA, the activist continued to use him. Gates said that he managed to convince Roopnaraine that he was on the WPA’s side.
Gates’ espionage also saw him becoming privy to classified information, including the fact that a former member of the GDF, Ashton Barker, had been sent to Cayenne, French Guiana to keep tabs on Gregory Smith. Gates said the order to watch Smith came from a senior member of the army and he added that he got this information directly from Barker, who was a relative of his.
Gates explained that whenever someone is employed by the state for illegal activities, systems are put in place to maintain surveillance on the person and maintain the integrity of the completed assignment.
He went on that he was told by Barker on the 15 July, 1980 about the trip to Cayenne. Barker left about a week later and returned about 2 weeks after he left Guyana, Gates said.
The Commission of Inquiry into Rodney’s death was set up to investigate the circumstances of the death of the historian. Rodney was killed after a walkie-talkie given to him exploded in his lap.
Commission hearings are due to continue for the remainder of the week.
