President David Granger said yesterday that he would like to bring the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to an end as soon as possible as it has failed to yield any valuable evidence and has led to a lot of time and money being wasted.
“As I told you before the Rodney Commission has not performed adequately, it has allowed a lot of hearsay evidence, a lot of time and money has been wasted and I would like to bring it to a conclusion as early as possible,” he said when asked at the swearing in of ministers if a position has yet been taken on it. The next session is scheduled to begin on June 22.
He said that no decision has yet been made as to what the way forward will be as he is yet to meet with the relevant people.
Asked if he would encourage that it go to the end, he responded “well it has already received several extensions and money is being wasted. I did not say I would scrap it, I would like to bring it to a conclusion as early as possible, and it must finish its work.”
According to Granger he doesn’t envision more extensions as over 15 months have passed since it started.
Rodney, the co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and an activist who had openly opposed the then PNC government, was killed in a car near John and Bent streets on June 13, 1980, after a walkie-talkie given to him exploded. The PNC – a constituent of APNU – has long been accused of killing Rodney despite repeated denials over the years.
The then Ramotar government had said that it wished to open a CoI to clear up all outstanding questions surrounding the death. In early 2014, Barbadian Sir Richard Cheltenham, Jamaican Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown and Trinidad and Tobago Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam were sworn in as commissioners by President Donald Ramotar.
A number of persons have so far given evidence and according to the commission’s lead Counsel Glen Hanoman it should be allowed to be concluded as not only has a lot of money been spent to conduct the hearings but also the CoI has gone more than halfway. He is certain that if given the opportunity the inquiry could come to an end in 15 to 20 working days.
Critics have questioned why it has taken more than a year for the inquiry to conclude. Questions have also been raised about the probative value of testimony from a number of the witnesses who appeared. In an election year, critics had also charged that the Ramotar administration had been using it to tarnish APNU.
