Dear Editor,
Botched or bogus CoIs are nothing new when it comes to the PNC, we have grown accustomed to them by now. If they are not openly bogus, when closely scrutinized, they will eventually get to that place.
Are you aware that the Walter Rodney murder was “investigated” by the PNC in a Coroner’s Inquest? Yes, after his death, Burnham and his PNC henchmen held a kangaroo inquest conducted by Justice Edwin Pratt.
Now, Burnham was very clever in his selection of the said coroner, as well as the timing and parameters under which he operated. A party comrade in Pratt, and most importantly the prime witness, Donald Rodney, could not have given evidence because a warrant was out for his arrest.
Donald Rodney was, as it were, a “fugitive from justice.”
Even of graver importance was the fact that many key witnesses could not come forward because of threats and other coercive tactics by the PNC Regime.
So, when the report would have been written up, it contained bogus entries, such as Dr Walter Rodney wanting to create mayhem and instability in this country, was about to blow up the Camp Street Prison to release subversive elements there, and was killed by a bomb that was given to him by his own brother. Pratt’s Report would add up to something as ludicrous as that.
When The PPP/C came to power, they held a CoI, one that was adjudicated by international jurists and one that saw all the persons involved coming forward to give testimony. The truth about Dr Rodney’s death was eventually revealed to the world at large.
If there were any doubts in people’s minds, all was cleared up by that commission, which incidentally was hurriedly shut down by the PNC-led Granger Administration.
Now, fast forward to 2002 and a so called breakout, or were they let out, at the selfsame Camp Street Prison, and a period of mayhem and instability in our country. Dozens of persons killed. There was a CoI conducted which revealed certain intellectual authors and behind-the-scenes actors in the so-called breakout.
Not much was done by way of this present Government acting on those recommendations, because it meant that they would have had to let go some of the senior officers in their government who were complicit with the criminals. This the Granger Government would not do, so in the meantime create a diversion with a “Selective CoI” into the Lindo Creek Massacre.
In this CoI, they hope to at least absolve themselves of any blame or involvement in those crimes. But, we know better — that even amidst this corrupt, one-man-Party-Comrade CoI, serious questions would come out as to the real persons behind or the intellectual authors who caused a situation at Lindo Creek. As bogus as it is, they will find it difficult to extricate themselves from the facts that led to Lindo Creek.
Respectfully submitted
Neil Adams
