Gregory Smith, the former Sergeant of the Guyana Defence Force implicated in Rodney's assassination, has not yet been brought to trial.

Efforts by the Government to have him repatriated to Guyana from French Guiana, where he is believed to be residing, to stand trial has hit a `legal snag'.

Rodney, a co-founder of the Working People's Alliance (WPA), was an avowed critic of the People's National Congress (PNC) which was in government at the time of his death.

He was killed when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in his lap while he was in a car with his brother, Donald, on a Georgetown street on the night of June 13, 1980. Rodney was 38 years old.

Smith, implicated as the man who allegedly provided the killer bomb disguised as a `walkie talkie', fled Guyana immediately after Rodney's assassination.

At his regular post-Cabinet news conference last week, Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon commented on efforts to repatriate Smith.

"I would agree that the detractors have indeed been criticising the administration on a number of grounds about Sergeant Smith's return to Guyana. Of course, his return, understandably, is predicated on giving evidence about his role in the murder, the assassination, of Dr. Walter Rodney - those who paid him, those who were responsible for his escape and just a revelation of what actually took place (and) the entire incident", he said.

According to Luncheon, one of the major hurdles the Guyana Government has encountered is the provision of some assurance to specifically the French administration that they would not be extraditing a French national to face murder charges here for which he could be hanged.

French Guiana falls under the control of the Government of France.

Luncheon also noted that there has been a number of interesting proposals made to the French administration which include "giving up front, an amnesty to find some plea bargaining arrangement".