Robert Herman Orlando Corbin, former Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Prime Minister, has been laid to rest in his home town of Linden after a funeral that drew tributes from across the political divide. PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton paid tribute to Corbin as a builder of the party’s youth and organisational strength.
A three-stage farewell
According to HGPTV, Thursday’s funeral began with political tributes at Congress Place, Sophia, continued at the forecourt of Parliament Buildings and concluded with a service at St Andrew’s Kirk in Georgetown, before cremation at Ruimzigt. Final committal rites were held in Linden on Saturday, October 17. Village Voice News reported that his ashes were to be committed to the Demerara River between the mouths of Muraru and Katapully creeks, followed by interment in the family plot at the Scottish Christian Church cemetery at Christianburg.
Norton: a builder of people
Speaking at St Andrew’s Kirk, Norton credited Corbin with building the PNC’s youth movement in the 1960s and 1970s, including leading the Young Socialist Movement, and with creating a structured training system that produced administrators, public servants and community organisers. Corbin, he said, “trained thousands of young people” who went on to serve the party and the country.
President Irfaan Ali said Corbin had “an unusually broad perspective” shaped by decades of national change, while Speaker Manzoor Nadir highlighted his nearly two decades in senior posts as Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
“Farewell, warrior”
Guyana Trades Union Congress General Secretary Lincoln Lewis, who first met Corbin in Linden in 1968, wrote that Corbin showed one could hold firm convictions while keeping respect and decency. He recalled their last phone call, in which Corbin urged him to keep fighting for workers’ rights, and closed his tribute with “Farewell, warrior.”
A letter in Village Voice News has also proposed naming the new Wismar–Mackenzie bridge after Corbin.
A legacy the party claims as its own
Corbin was elected PNCR Leader at a Special Congress in February 2003, after the death of former President Desmond Hoyte, and served until David Granger succeeded him in July 2012. He died on October 4 at age 78. While Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has used the occasion to pitch closer PPP–PNCR relations, PNCR veteran Vincent Alexander has publicly challenged how Jagdeo and others portrayed Corbin’s political legacy.
Sources
- HGPTV – Former PNCR Leader Robert Corbin laid to rest amid glowing tributes (Oct 16, 2026)
- Village Voice News – Lewis pays tribute to Corbin’s legacy of respect (Oct 17, 2026)
- Village Voice News – Name new Wismar–Mackenzie bridge after Robert Corbin (Oct 17, 2026)
- Village Voice News – Vincent Alexander challenges Jagdeo, Dev’s portrayal of Corbin’s legacy (Oct 16, 2026)
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