As Guyana said farewell to former PNCR Leader Robert Corbin this week, a senior figure in the party’s history has pushed back against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s portrayal of Corbin’s legacy, and challenged him to show that his sudden call for PPP–PNCR cooperation is sincere.
Jagdeo’s pitch
Speaking at a night of reflections for Corbin at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Jagdeo said the PPP/C and PNCR “will face extinction” unless they adapt to younger voters and move past racial politics, Kaieteur News reported. He rejected claims that Corbin was a “sellout,” said some form of cooperation between the two parties will be necessary, and argued that Corbin had been thinking that way long before it was fashionable.
Alexander: the PPP said no
Writing in Village Voice, Vincent Alexander, a former PNCR Vice-Chair and immediate past chair of the Forbes Burnham Foundation, accepted that the tributes were right to describe Corbin as a patriot committed to inclusive governance. But he called parts of the account of Corbin’s peers and party history biased and misleading.
Alexander said he found it ironic that Jagdeo now links Corbin to a new approach to politics. He recalled that when the PNC pushed shared governance, the PPP/C rejected it at State House, arguing that trust had to be built first. He also said PPP leaders past and present have not responded to calls from civil society, including IDPADA-G, to seek common ground. And he rejected Jagdeo’s view that venomous propaganda is a normal part of politics as incompatible with any “new approach.”
He disputed commentator Ravi Dev’s suggestion that a group dubbed “Team Alexander” had held back Corbin’s progressive politics, calling it a “patent misrepresentation.” He urged Jagdeo, as Vice President and PPP General Secretary, to act on the commitment he expressed at the wake.
Norton honours a mentor
At Thursday’s funeral at St. Andrew’s Kirk, PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton described Corbin as a friend, comrade and leader who trained many young members of the Young Socialist Movement. “I have no fear in saying he impacted the youth positively,” Norton said. President Irfaan Ali also spoke, calling Corbin a “former apostle of national reconciliation.”
Commentator GHK Lall has also questioned the timing of Jagdeo’s unity call, Village Voice reported. With the PPP holding power and the PNCR rebuilding, the question PNCR voices are now asking is whether the governing party’s warm words at a funeral will translate into any real change in how it governs.
Sources
- Village Voice – Vincent Alexander challenges Jagdeo, Dev’s portrayal of Corbin’s political legacy (Oct 16, 2026)
- Kaieteur News – Jagdeo warns PPP, PNCR face extinction if they fail to adapt (Oct 16, 2026)
- Kaieteur News – Guyana bids final farewell to Robert Corbin (Oct 16, 2026)
- Village Voice – GHK Lall questions Jagdeo’s sudden call for PPP-PNC unity (Oct 17, 2026)
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