Dr Walter Rodney’s family welcomes COI

says Ramotar administration must be commended
AFTER a period of just under eight months the request made by the Walter Rodney family through the widow of Dr Walter Rodney and the Walter Rodney Foundation, (www.walterrodneyfoundation.org); for the authorisation of a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the circumstances of the death of the great Marxist scholar and historian, has been responded to with the Gazetting of the COI on February 8, 2014.

The process of engaging with political authorities over the three decades has been a mixed one, especially as it is generally known, the governments of the People’s National Congress, notably the Hoyte regime, failed to ensure that there was a comprehensive and full COI investigation that would comply with the standards and rigours of a Presidential Commission as set out under the relevant Act (Cap 19:03).
It is necessary to recount that with the passage of time there is bound to be secondary features impacting on the institutional and individual stakeholder memories in terms of measuring up to a COI.