Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Doodnauth Singh SC, is moving to fill a number of vacancies in the Attorney General's Chambers and has already begun advertising the posts.
Stabroek News
August 9, 2001
The posts being advertised are for Solicitor General (SG), Deputy SG and State Solicitor. The posts of SG and State Solicitor have been vacant since the deaths of the last incumbents Julian Nurse SC and Patricia Agard. Nurse died about a decade ago and Agard about five years ago.
In relation to errors in the advertisements mentioned in a letter by PNC REFORM leader Desmond Hoyte, which was published in yesterday's Stabroek News, Singh said that the errors had been pointed out to the newspaper which made them (not the Stabroek News). He said too that he had written to Hoyte apologising for the errors, even though they had not been made by his ministry.
Singh also commented on the moves to have Gregory Smith returned to Guyana from Cayenne, French Guiana, to assist with the enquiries into the death of renowned historian and political activist, Dr Walter Rodney. He said that he would have to review what had been done thus far and offer advice as appropriate to the government on how to proceed.
Before his ministerial appointment, Singh had been appointed special prosecutor in the case. His appointment was suggested by the Working People's Alliance and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) approved it. He said that the appointment of another special prosecutor was the responsibility of the DPP.
He recalled writing to his predecessor, Charles Ramson SC, suggesting that the President be advised that he should give an assurance to the French government that the death penalty would be waived in the event that Smith, now called Cecil Johnson, was tried and found guilty of murder. France has abolished the death penalty and does not extradite persons to jurisdictions where it is still in force.
Dr Rodney was killed in June 1980 as a result of a bomb blast while sitting in a parked vehicle with his brother Donald Rodney on John Street in the vicinity of the Georgetown Prison after collecting what was believed to be a walkie-talkie from Smith. Later enquiries revealed that Smith had been a sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force and was spirited out of the country to Cayenne. Located in Cayenne by this newspaper some years ago, Smith/Johnson expressed a willingness to return to Guyana to tell what he knew about the circumstances surrounding Dr Rodney's death.