Dear Editor,
Reading the letter “Court Cases of Walter Rodney. . . ” (SN, January 17, 2021), I am reminded of the following words from Dickens’ Bleak House: “Jarndyce and Jarndyce drones on. This scarecrow of a suit has, in the course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it means. The parties to it understand it least. . . It has passed into a joke. . . it has been death to many, but it is a joke in the profession. . . ”
I am certain that most Guyanese were surprised by this letter and existence of the Rodney cases. Languishing for such a long time, they certainly rival the case in Dickens’ Bleak House!
Instead of beseeching the courts, I beg that President Irfaan Ali, in the interest of closure and justice, grant a pardon to the Rodneys. Young readers will be too young to recall the terror that the Burnham regime inflicted on the nation. (You, SN, could not have printed because newsprints were banned—a way of suppressing free speech!) We recall the relief Guyanese felt when Rodney, regardless of his politics, took on the dictatorship. We might not have agreed with his vision for Guyana, but when he was snuffed out, so was dissent and free press in Guyana. We all felt the pain as terror thrived. A pardon would not hurt anyone but will heal the country.
Further, the Rodney Commission of Inquiry (COI), after a thorough fact-finding mission, concluded that Walter Rodney was assassinated with knowledge of State officials. The Rodneys did not murder anyone—Walter Rodney was murdered instead. It is time to ask his brother, Donald Rodney, to come home and grieve in his homeland—and let bygones be bygones.
These brothers tried to restore democracy. They will live in our memory as heroes, not criminals. We know the criminals.
Sincerely yours,
Fuaud Rahaman
