I would like to use this opportunity to illustrate the struggle of bro Walter Rodney a vision of human development. I know that there would be many social, economic and political analyses of a structural kind, of the role he played in the struggle of Guyana, how much he contributed and so forth. Other people will do that. I myself perhaps, can claim to be particularly well-equipped to do that because I followed his struggles for much of his period before he was brutally murdered. He was also engaged in the other struggles for the restoration of democracy and the holding of free and fair elections here in Guyana. I acknowledge his works, as a distinguished young academic who has contributed a great deal to the study of African history and development, he is a reflection of someone who is being simply deified; it is really a notion of recognition of noble ideals like Nelson Mandela. Bro Rodney was watched by plain-clothes security persons twenty-four hours a day so it gives you the idea of the type of pressure and difficult circumstances under which Walter Rodney lived his life.
This was the symbol of the difficult circumstances under which he lived and which he would have to tolerate throughout his life until his death. He was banned from going out of the country. Among the many reasons, of course was his association with Dr Cheddi Jagan. He was declared persona non grata and could not travel freely and there was a lot of snooping and banning of persons and that was the basis for treating them as unwanted persons in many territories in the Caribbean.