Ramsammy: Rodney CoI must be fully funded : –urges Cabinet not to be ‘intimidated’ by Main Opposition

THE People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)/ A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), last week signaled its intention to not support any requests for additional funding to cater for an extension of the work of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney. 

And Member of Parliament (MP) on the Government’s side, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, weighing in on the matter, contends that this is a clear case of “buffoonery” intended to intimidate the Government and intended to misconstrue the working of the CoI.
He said, “The Cabinet must not be intimidated by the PNC; the Rodney CoI must be funded fully. The PNC and its leaders want to abort the work of the Rodney CoI, and they have threatened to cut funds to allow the CoI to continue its work and to fully explore the question as to what happened in the period before and the aftermath of Rodney’s death.
“The Cabinet must not allow the PNC to dictate how the Commission does its work, and to influence whether it provides the CoI with the funds it needs to complete its work with diligence and as comprehensively as possible.”
On April 15, MPs were unanimous in their approval of $112M to fund the work of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, an allocation that was listed under the Office of the President’s $2.2B current expenditure estimates in the 2014 Budget.
Additionally, the establishment of a COI was supported by a Parliamentary Motion that spawned the decision to establish the Commission of Inquiry. On June 13, 1980, Dr. Walter Rodney, a distinguished Guyanese scholar, was assassinated by an explosion which occurred in his car at John and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown. Dr. Rodney was, at the time of his death, an eminent political leader engaged in democracy and social justice in a struggle against authoritarian rule. There have been calls for a full investigation into the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney, which have received broad support.
President Donald Ramotar had agreed, in June 2013, to establish the COI following a request from the Rodney family, after a previous inquiry ordered by former President Desmond Hoyte in 1988 found that the historian/politician’s demise was caused by an ‘accident or misadventure’, and that was met with grave disbelief.
Said Dr Ramsammy of the APNU/PNCR’s latest caper, “This is an on-going assault on the Rodney COI by APNU/PNC.”

NOT IN THEIR FAVOUR
Noting that attempts to stop the work of a similar CoI was made when the Head of State appointed such a Commission to look into the Linden deaths, on the grounds that the findings were not in the main Opposition’s favour, Dr Ramsammy said:
“I was never under any illusion that APNU/PNC will do anything it could do to derail the work of the Rodney COI. They tried to delay and derail the Rodney COI before the work of the Commission started; it was clear from the beginning that David Granger and other leaders of the PNC would not cooperate with the Commission. It was, further, pellucid that the PNC leaders would establish roadblocks and barriers to prevent the work of the Commission from proceeding.”
He is of the opinion that the disclosures being made at the CoI are distributing, hence the current move by the main Opposition. “The truth is that the Rodney COI is revealing information that confirms what many of us always knew: That the State machinery, controlled by the PNC, was linked to the murder of Walter Rodney,” Dr Ramsammy said, adding:
“But the truth is also revealing the extent that the PNC went to create a brutal dictatorship; this is the truth we have talked about, and which we rejected on October 5, 1992.
“But this truth is too damning for the PNC to see, spread across the news headlines; not being able to stop the Rodney COI from starting, they adopted a strategy of placing lawyers to create maximum intimidation of witnesses, and to distract the work of the Commission. The Chairman of the COI hit it on the nail when he stated he would not allow Mr. Basil Williams to spread propaganda in the Commission’s work. Mr. Williams has performed his duty in the Commission as the representative of the PNC with the same ‘thuggery’ he is used to with PNC-style thug politics.”
Noting that the disclosures have clearly nettled and embarrassed the PNC, Dr Ramsammy said: “The damning truth is the PNC and its leaders have been embarrassed and have been exposed. They do not want the written report of the COI and they know that more witnesses are to come that will reveal greater wrong-doings. They are, therefore, seeking to bring the work of the Rodney COI to an end.
“The truth is that people have been reminded about the PNC that took our country into dictatorship and wrecked Guyana; the truth is that kind of behaviour is very much still a part of the PNC, and they do not want to be exposed. They will try everything to ensure they hide the terrible truths of the PNC, and to ensure people do not know that the PNC of yester-years is still the PNC on the prowl.”

AFC/WPA STANCE
The Government MP stated that the minority Opposition Party, the Alliance for Change, as well as the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), must also be called to make clear this position on the matter.
He said, “They have received support in the past from the AFC. As a citizen of Guyana, I would like to hear from the leadership of AFC if they, too, will withhold further financing for the Rodney COI. My question to the AFC is: Are you going to join forces with your PNC/ APNU friends to suffocate the work of the Rodney Commission?”
“The AFC has been vocal on virtually every issue with their myopic and one-eyed views. Why are they silent now on the Rodney COI?” Dr. Ramsammy added.
He also questioned the position of the WPA, which he contends is a vital part of the APNU leadership.
“Is the position of APNU/PNC the position of the WPA? I would like to hear from Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and from the leadership of the WPA what their clear and unequivocal position is on the work of the Rodney COI,” the Government MP said.
He highlighted the fact that initially, the WPA and the AFC provided support to the PNC to derail the start and then the work of the CoI; however, there were individuals who were able to stand up on a moral platform and who accepted their responsibility to come forward.
“This forced the WPA to give its tentative support. The Commission has had their hands full with the number of people who want to speak about this most shameful period and the dastardly act of murdering a brilliant young Guyanese. Knowing the truth must be our national process of healing and must not be based on political implications,” Dr. Ramsammy said.

CABINET RESPONSIBILITY
And, commending the President, Mr Donald Ramotar for using his authority to establish the Rodney CoI, Dr Ramsammy said:
“The President, the Minister of Finance and the Cabinet have a responsibility, in accordance with the Constitution, to ensure that the work of the Rodney COI is completed and to ensure that the Commission has all the time and the resources to complete their work as fully as possible.”
He said too that it is the Cabinet’s responsibility to ensure that politicians with vested interest do not use the authority of Parliament to “perversely suffocate” the CoI, because the results appear damning to them.
He said, “Now maybe people will understand why the Constitution is written the way it is: the Constitution anticipates that should politicians want to stop a legitimate and productive exercise by cutting out resources, the Government would be able to continue its work.
“…but the Government must remain resolute in ensuring that one of the scandals of Guyana under the wrappings of State collusion must be exposed and must become a lesson that will be a catalyst for Guyana never to repeat such shadowy and criminal behavior again.”
Dr. Ramsammy surmised that the PNC wants to hide what its “natural propensity” is.
He said, “We can all be certain that the PNC will repeat behavior that characterized it in those dark years – a party naturally exercising dictatorship and the worse wrappings that dictatorship brings with it. Its recent congress is further proof that the PNC is what it was and will never change its stripes.
“There was clearly no competition for David Granger to win the leadership of the PNC. But they had to rig the election because that is the only way they know how to behave. It is in their genes, their make-up. The gun-play that marred the congress is another part of the PNC that resulted in the death of Walter Rodney. The congress reminded people of this part of the PNC.”
The work of the CoI into the death of Dr. Rodney, the Government MP concluded, must be allowed to be completed unhindered.
Rodney was killed when a bomb exploded in the car in which he was sitting. He was 38 years old at the time. Nine years ago, Parliament unanimously approved a motion to establish a commission to enquire into the circumstances surrounding his death. After his assassination, Rodney received several honours posthumously, among them, in 1993 the Government of Dr. Cheddi Jagan conferred on him the country’s highest National Award, the Order of Excellence (OE) and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was created at the University of Guyana (UG).
Written By Vanessa Narine