Open Letter to Chancellor of the Judiciary: Justice to Walter and Donald Rodney – 40 years and counting!
DEAR EDITOR,
An Open Letter has been sent to the Chancellor of the Judiciary about the cases of Donald and Walter Rodney that are pending for the past 40 years. Deferred justice is denied! The signatories are representative of the large number of people in the Caribbean, from the Diaspora and Guyanese at home who continue to stand up for Justice over Walter and Donald Rodney and who have again raised their collective voices on early 2021. The content and signatures of the Open Letter to the Chancellor are in the text below.
“With the recent launch of the campaign to strengthen public trust in the judiciary, we have signed below, writing in recognition of the efforts of the Supreme Judiciary Court, along with JURIST, to continue to distribute justice in Guyana. You are encouraged by the opening remarks of Your Honor: “Whenever anything changes the ability of the courts to meet the needs of its citizens, steps must be taken to respond quickly, safely and efficiently.” So we’re inspired to write this open letter right now.
One concern we have is progress through the related case courts of Donald Rodney, and the late Dr. Walter Rodney killed in 1980 in very public circumstances. The latter as a scholar is internationally notable, and has placed Guyana on the world map as a springboard for mad achievement. We can add without fear of contradiction that he too as an activist has won the admiration of all democratic forces in Guyana. In 1988 an inquest, adjourned eight years after his death, concluded that Rodney had died by “accident or misadventure” [Guyana Chronicle February 16, 1988– verdict copy not even provided to family] used Donald Rodney’s conviction six years earlier as a basis, though an appeal is still ongoing.
However, much later information has been publicly verified that Rodney’s death was a deliberate act, including the 2016 report of the Rodney Commission of Inquiry (COI) which conclusively concluded that Walter Rodney was murdered with knowledge of State officials: thus found three Caribbean Commissioners who are all Chief / Senior Counsel, and heard evidence over several months. We cite three specific findings from the COI:
“We have no hesitation in holding that Gregory Smith was responsible for the death of Dr. Walter Rodney on June 13, 1980 and, in so doing, acted as State agent having been aided and abetted to do so by individuals who held leadership positions in State agencies and committed to fulfilling the wishes of administration the PNC. ” [Paragraph 8.22 page 102 COI Report].
“We can see, on balance, that Walter Rodney intended the walkie-talkie to be a communication device that would have allowed him to have relatively easy contact with WPA colleagues and to no sinister purpose.” [Paragraph 8.4 page 102 COI report].
“We find, furthermore, that on the night of June 13, 1980, Donald Rodney, whose evidence we are receiving, went no further than accompanying his brother, Walter, to gather what they thought might have been is a walkie-talkie. There is no evidence before us to suggest that the reason for collecting the device was other than that Donald had stated. ” [Paragraph 8.5 and 8.6 page 102 COI report].
The full report can be viewed at https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/coi:rodney_report.
Donald Rodney is a professional in the fields of quantity surveying and the law. Forced to seek refuge in the UK for his own safety and to survive abroad after trial, he never renounced his homeland and has retained his Guyanese citizenship. At the time of his conviction in 1982 he was a senior official in the service of the Guyana government. Apart from his conviction under the National Security Act, special legislation that did not uphold the accused’s right to presume innocence, he has alleged in the appellate court that his statements of defense made in open court were extracted from court records the trial (see SN of 21 May 2019). So far, surprisingly, Donald Rodney’s appeal remains unresolved.
Given the above, our concern is that these two cases, which have a pressing need for justice, were not dealt with quickly, safely and efficiently. We believe that the court record should reflect the true findings in the case of Walter Rodney. We also believe that Donald Rodney’s appeal should be abandoned and his innocence proclaimed without further exacerbating the astonishing 40 years.
Honorary Chancellor, we trust that you would understand our deep dissatisfaction until these two anomalies are resolved for the sake of justice and for the benefit of all Guyanese. “
Respectfully,
Hubert Devonish, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, UWA
Anne Braithwaite, Social Justice Executive, Guyana / UK
Edward Greene, Chancellor, University of Guyana
Professor David Dabydeen, Director, Ameena Gafoor Foundation
Sir Hilary Beckles, a Caribbean public intellectual and historian
Ian McDonald, Author
Pauline Melville, Author, Royal Society of Literature
Isabelle de Caires
Stanley Greaves, Artist
Clem Seecharran, Emeritus Professor of History, London Metropolitan University
Nigel Westmaas, Clinton, New York
Rohit Kanhai, Independent Operator, Guyana / USA
Rev. Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth
Karen de Souza, Coordinator, Red Thread
Vanda Radzik, Rights and Justice
Bonita Harris, Educator
Jocelyn Dow, Business Woman
Alissa Trotz, Professor, Guyana / Canada
Charlene Wilkinson, Lecturer, AS, Languages
Ali Majeed, Independent Operator
Leila Jagdeo, Citizen
David Johnson, New York University
Vidyaratha Kissoon, Taxpayer
Danuta Radzik, Human Rights Activist
Wazir Mohamed, Professor, Eastern Indiana University; &
Justice Committee Coordinator Walter Rodney