The WPA betrayed Walter Rodney, says VP Jagdeo
Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

VICE-PRESIDENT, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has accused the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) of betraying the memory of Guyanese historian and political activist, Dr. Walter Rodney, given the WPA’s non-action during its time as a member of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Coalition.

Speaking during a recent press conference at the Office of the President (OP), Dr Jagdeo noted that the WPA has “re-emerged from the grave” to “now want a political solution for Guyana”, but remained silent when injustices were exacted against Dr. Rodney’s memory under the APNU during its time as part of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

Dr Jagdeo cited the particular example of the removal of Dr. Rodney’s name from the “Walter Rodney National Archives” in 2019 under the APNU+AFC government.

“The APNU removed that, with the WPA as part of the Coalition, they allowed that to happen. We have put it back in place. We changed the death certificate so no longer will it be that by misadventure, he was assassinated,” Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo noted.

After being silent for years, the WPA left the APNU Coalition in August 2020 after the party was ousted from government. In a statement, the party said it had to “live with PNC’s decisions being imposed on the rest of the APNU. The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is the largest party in the APNU Coalition”.

Guyanese activist, Dr. Walter Rodney

A revered Guyanese academic, Dr. Rodney was killed on June 13, 1980 by a bomb in his car. It is widely believed that he was assassinated for his opposition to the then PNCR Government of Linden Forbes Burnham.

Dr. Jagdeo noted that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has done much to restore and preserve the memory of Dr. Rodney and what he means to Guyana and Guyanese and on that point contended that “The WPA betrayed Walter Rodney.”

“Walter Rodney, who meant so much to this country, people don’t even realise that. All of his works are now placed in archives in different universities around the world. So that he can have his rightful place in all our records and in our history.”

In 2021, the PPP/C Government undertook a number of initiatives to recognise Dr Rodney’s life’s work and in honouring his legacy.

Rodney’s gravesite and memorial were declared national monuments under the administration of The National Trust, his death certificate which had described him as “unemployed” was corrected to read ‘Professor’ and his work incorporated into the national school syllabus by the Ministry of Education.

His major works, noteworthy ‘A History of the Guyanese Working People’, ‘Guyanese Sugar Plantations in the late Nineteenth Century’, and ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’, were made available at the University of Guyana Library while the Walter Rodney Chair at the university was re-established.

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