MP, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley
Former WPA executive questions motive behind govt’s intended motion to adopt Rodney Report
June 11 ,2021
A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament Tabitha Sarabo-Halley has questioned the motive behind the Government’s intended motion to adopt the Dr. Walter Rodney COI Report and set the record straight on the circumstances surrounding Dr. Walter Rodney’s death.
“I would like to commend the Hon. Minister of Legal Affairs [Anil Nandlall] for his glowing reviews of Dr. Walter Rodney. But the question must be asked why now? PPP’s revisionism does not and cannot erase history. If my understanding of history is accurate it is this same PPP that was preparing to form a left alliance with LFS Burnham in 1985. It is indeed a pity that he who is in such a good place to practice the Rodneyite principles is a central figure in the abuse of African Guyanese,” MP Sarabo-Halley said in a statement.
MP Sarabo-Halley issued the statement hours after the Attorney General informed the National Assembly that in addition to the adoption of the report, the Death Certificate of Dr Rodney would be amended to change his cause of death from “misadventure” to “assassination,” and job description from “unemployed” to “professor.
Leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Dr. Rodney was assassinated on June 13, 1980 when a bomb exploded his car. He was 38.
MP Sarabo-Halley, who not so long ago served as the Chairman of WPA, said had Dr. Rodney been alive, he would have been appalled at the treatment of Afro-Guyanese by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration.
“As everyone who was part of the WPA of Dr. Rodney could attest to, the PPP has, to the disgust of his comrades, paraded Dr. Rodney’s name to the abuse of African Guyanese. I am confident that were Dr. Rodney alive today he would be speaking about your excesses and atrocitties. Crum-Ewing’s name comes to mind..,” she said.
She said that the recent reparations by the PPP do not alter the torturous avoidance of Dr. Rodney’s killing in a timely manner 1992 – 2021. “So again, thank you for your high praise and response to Patricia Rodney’s request for the record to be altered.
Indeed, his books belong in schools, this should have been done long ago, as Guyanese children will be better for it. Might I add that his book the History of the Guyanese Working People should be compulsory reading for all parliamentarians as one would hope that all this signals a new respect and understanding of the role African Guyanese have played in the building of this beautiful country,” Sarabo-Halley said.