The National Assembly yesterday through the adoption of two Motions honoured the work and long years of service of two former members of the House: Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud, former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Robert Corbin, former Leader of the Opposition.
In the place of Prime Minister Sam Hinds, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee put forward the Motion to honour former MP for the PPP and later the PPP/C Persaud. Volda Lawrence of A Partnership for National Unity put forward the Motion honouring Corbin.
Rohee said that the Motion is a reflection of the spirit and honour that should be extended to a person who has dedicated his life to work both in and out of Parliament.
“The sentiments should be common and consensual in what we are about to bestow,” said Rohee in the tribute to Persaud. He said that the former MP never shied away from any challenge thrown up against him. He hailed Persaud as a person who had simplicity and modesty, he said that Cheddi Jagan made an impact on the young Persaud in the early days of the PPP.
Rohee said that Persaud was elected to the National Assembly in 1965 at the age of 28. He said that Persaud took part in debates for 56 Bills, 33 Motions and 37 budget debates.
In addressing the Motion, APNU’s Vice Chairman and MP Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine said that he remembered the participation of Persaud in the work leading up to the last Local Government Elections in 1994. He said that Reepu had the ability to bring harmony to a debate.
Valerie Garrido-Lowe of the Alliance For Change said that Reepu has indeed earned his place in Guyana’s history. “Many new parliamentarians are yet to learn of all his contributions [in the National Assembly],” she said.
“Today we need as many Reepus as possible,” she said.
Lawrence said Corbin served as an elected MP for nearly 36 years – from August 1973 to October 1997 and from 2001 to 2011. “Mr. Corbin held a number of ministerial portfolios. These included Parliamentary Secretary Cooperatives and National Mobilisation, Social Development and Culture; Minister, Youth, Sport and National Service; Minister, Regional and National Development; Minister, Local Government; Deputy Prime Minister, Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Deputy Prime Minister, Public Utilities and Deputy Prime Minister, Works, Communications and Public Utilities. He was also Deputy Prime Minister between 1985 and 1992,” Lawrence said.
“During his achievements in the many high offices held, he never lost touch with the common man. I have been privileged to travel across the length and breadth of this country in his company and can attest to the number of Guyanese who remember him not only as their youth leader or as Minister, but rather as Robert.
The conversations can begin from shared youth activities, to fishing, to farming, hunting, sports and challenges at debates,” said Lawrence.
“He had the privilege of serving as a member of the Guyana Elections Commission and was at the time of his demitting office a member of the International Board of the Parliamentary Network of the World Bank and the IMF,” Lawrence said.
“Mr. Corbin, a practising Attorney at Law, will no doubt continue to give service to Guyanese in other areas of human activity, but we in this House have been enriched from his many contributions while he served up to the highest level of the land. It is in recognition of that service that I take pride and pleasure in moving the [Motion],” Lawrence said.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds called Corbin a formidable opponent. “I would like to join in extending [gratitude] to Corbin for the long years of service in the National Assembly and wish him well in his future endeavours,” said Hinds.
In giving his own tributes to the two long serving parliamentarians, Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman said that the National Awards were designed to give honour to those such as were being honoured by the Motions.
But he said that the award has fallen away in this regard. Noting the difficulties that the family of artist Phillip Moore endured over where he was to be buried, he said “I wonder why more consideration was not be given to Moore during his lifetime.”
