Commissioners of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) say that because of a lack of facilities they were made to print their final report at their hotel and when completed it was handed over to the Attorney-General’s secretary following instructions reported to have come from President David Granger.
However, the Ministry of the Presidency last evening said the president was disappointed at the commissioners’ inability to arrange their work so as to enable them to present the report at the agreed time and date after several requests for extensions were granted.
Stabroek News was told up to Friday that the report, which was handed over on Tuesday, has not been taken to the Ministry of Presidency and is not yet in the president’s possession.
The CoI was set up two years ago by the then Donald Ramotar-led government, which said it wanted to clear up all outstanding questions surrounding Rodney’s death. Rodney was killed in a bomb blast on June 13, 1980 and the then PNC government had been accused of engineering his death, although it has consistently denied involvement. One of the main objectives of the CoI was to enquire into the cause of the explosion, including whether it was an act of terrorism and if so who were the perpetrators.
Responding to what has been called the unceremonious and disrespectful hand over of the long awaited report, Chairman Sir Richard Cheltenham and Commissioner Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam, in a five-page press statement that was released yesterday, sought to account for their inability to meet the scheduled time for the hand over the report.
They spared little detail in explaining that they arrived to find no place to work and how they had to use the printer at the Marriott Hotel, which subsequently ran out of ink. They also say they were given a runaround when the report was finally printed and ready for delivery and that they are still seeking to have a writing fee, which was part of a verbal agreement with the last government, paid over to them.
The statement, dated February 12, was signed by Sir Richard and Jairam, who along with the third commissioner, Queen’s Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown have all returned to the respective countries where they practice.
The three commissioners had returned to Guyana to complete the report.
According to the statement, before their arrival, the Chairman was assured that all the appropriate arrangements would be put in place to ensure that the CoI Secretariat would be properly equipped to complete the report.
However, they said that upon arriving in the country on Monday, February 1, they found no fixed space had been assigned for the completion of our work. “We were taken to a building being outfitted as the headquarters for all future Commissions. We also visited the premises previously assigned to us. We agreed that we would work there but the premises had to be cleaned overnight and staff recruited to begin work the next day,” they said, while adding that it was not until midday the following day that the premises were made available with a photocopying machine but no printer.
Difficulties
The report had been scheduled to be handed over last Monday at 12 noon.
The commissioners said at about 9 am on that morning, when the typed version of the report was being printed at the hotel through private printing facilities, the Chairman received word that the ink had run out. They added that several unsuccessful attempts were then made by the secretariat staff and the Chairman to contact the CoI’s Secretary Hugh Denbow for ink.
At 11.15 am, they said, Denbow visited them at the Marriott Hotel and apologised for being out of reach as he been meeting with visiting aviation officials. They noted that he was surprised to hear that the Secretariat has no ink as he had provided such days before in anticipation of the printing.
Denbow, they said, left and returned half an hour later with ink which he had purchased personally and the printing of the report recommenced.
It was explained that when the Chairman first learned of the ink problem, he immediately contacted Attorney General Basil Williams, who was the link between the commissioners and the president, and advised him of the difficulties.
“He (Williams) said that the President, who was already fed up, would be disappointed and he gave us the contact numbers for the President at his Monday office. He suggested that the Chairman call the President,” it said.
The statement further said the Chairman also indicated that the report could be delivered at the president’s convenience anytime that afternoon or evening. “The Attorney General said that the President was unavailable to receive it at any of the times indicated. He further advised that he, the Attorney General, would be out of office early on Tuesday morning but that we should deliver the Report to his office,” it was noted.
According to the commissioners, despite this advice they felt that it would be “improper and inappropriate” to deliver a presidential report to the AG’s office and that they should make an attempt to hand it over to the president the following day.
They said the Chairman tried twice unsuccessfully to reach the president to explain “our unavoidable difficulty” and to ascertain whether it could be delivered to him personally the following day.
On a third try, they said the call was answered by a woman who confirmed that she was the president’s secretary and advised that the call could not be transferred to the president.
The statement said that the secretary undertook to inform the president that the chairman had called. Though the chairman had left his contact numbers, no call or message from the president was ever received.
The commissioners added that the very night they became aware that a public statement had been made by the AG to the press to the effect that the president was “fed up” with the Commission, among other things. “The statement gave the distinct impression that it was the responsibility of the Commissioners, and particularly the Chairman, to make provision for ink and that the running out of ink was the fault of the Chairman. The Commission had been asked to submit a typed version of the Report. The Executive undertook to have the report printed and bound by the Government Printery,” the statement added, while noting that in such inquiries the provision of the Commission Secretariat, staff, physical office and office supplies is done by the executive, not the commissioners.
The following day– Tuesday-the commissioners said the Chairman instructed Denbow to contact the president’s office to ascertain when on that day it would be convenient to the president to receive the report. Denbow, it was stated made a call and subsequently advised the Chairman that the hour for delivery at the president’s office was tentatively set for 12.30 pm but that the time had to be confirmed by the president’s office.
“By 10:45 am we had received no such confirmation. The Chairman further instructed Mr. Denbow to call every ten (10) minutes to see whether we could have confirmation of the 12.30 pm hour for delivery. At a little after noon Mr. Denbow came to the Hotel and reported that the officer who had given him the 12.30 pm time was not in office and the other persons at the President’s office whom he contacted were of no assistance,” the statement said.
Saying they were keen to discharge their obligation, the commissioners said they then headed over to the president’s office at 1pm to hand over the report.
The statement noted that on arrival at the president’s office the commissioner’s identified themselves to the security at the front gate and informed them that they were there to deliver the report. Shortly after, they were escorted to a room where they waited for the president. “After about twenty-five (25) minutes a lady (whom we assumed to be the President’s Secretary) came and informed us that the President would not be able to see us as he was otherwise engaged. She added that he had instructed that we should take the Report to the Secretary to the Attorney General and leave it with her. That we did just before 2:00 pm,” the release said.
The commissioners informed that they took photographs of each stage of their journey, including at the security hut on the premises of the president’s office and the handing over of the report to the Attorney General’s secretary.
The Ministry of the Presidency, in a statement released last evening, said President Granger, having been informed that the commissioners were prepared to hand over the report last Monday, had immediately agreed to receive it and altered his schedule to meet with the commissioners.
“The Ministry of the Presidency would like to point out that President David Granger acceded to every request by the Commissioners for extensions to the time set in the original ‘terms of reference.’ The Ministry of the Presidency would like to point out, further, that, after two years, the Commissioners still found it impossible to keep an agreed appointment to present the Report of the Commission of Inquiry,” it said.
“The President was extremely disappointed to learn that the Commissioners were unable to present the Report at the agreed time and date. The President, after waiting a while, thereafter resorted to keeping the appointments, which he had previously scheduled,” it added.
Writing fee
Meanwhile, the statement confirmed that they had signed no contracts but said this was not an unusual practice in commissions of inquiry.
However, they noted that the terms and conditions under which their services were engaged were settled with the former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who, at all times, was acting on behalf of the then president Donald Ramotar.
The statement added that while there was “no signed contract,” the Chairman was careful, however, to send a letter dated February 10, 2014, to Nandlall reflecting the terms of their engagement, which had been agreed with the Chairman and the other commissioners at the Amaryllis Hotel in Barbados two days prior.
Subsequent to that letter, the commissioners agreed to a reduction of their fees with Nandlall and were paid in accordance with the agreed reduction. The statement did not state how much was the payment and when it was made.
Williams told reporters at Parliament last week that the commissioners could not have been paid because there was no contract.
“The contract attending this entire exercise was requested from the Chairman of the commission and on that question being asked he disclosed that they never had any contract,” Williams said, while adding that he found the revelation “disturbing.”
The commissioners’ statement said that one of the elements of their engagement included a writing fee for them, which they said is the norm. “A writing fee is a standard part of the engagement of Commissioners. It reflects the reality that Commissioners have to spend considerable time, separate and apart from hearing the evidence, in analysing and writing up the Report. It is the fee paid to Commissioners for the final phase of their responsibilities”, the statement said.
It added that “surprise is now being publicly expressed by the now Attorney General about a writing fee when it has at all times been part of the terms of our settled and established engagement, consistent with standard practice.”
The writing fee, the statement said, was due to be paid in full “ten days before the delivery of the report” but notwithstanding that none of the writing fee was paid, the commissioners came to Guyana “determined to discharge their responsibilities under the Terms of Reference and have done so.”
It was noted too that a letter from the Chairman setting out the terms with respect to writing fees was provided to the Administrator, at his request, during the last sitting of the Commission in August, 2015 and that the Chairman reminded the Attorney General in writing on January 20, 2016 that a writing fee was due to the commissioners.
On the issue of the writing fee, Williams had questioned why there were two separate fees. “In any inquiry, the end of any such inquiry is culminated by the presentation of a report. That could only be done after it has been written up, so that should have been or ought to have been included in the fees charged and so we don’t know about a separate writing fee,” he said.
Williams told reporters that there is no money to pay the commissioners until the budget is passed. He said too that the Minister of Finance will need to get the contract to guide him in the payments.
