Fazal Ally and I grew up playing together as children, although he attended Moslem Education Trust College and I went to West Demerara Secondary School.

We both joined the PYO almost simultaneously immediately after the General Elections of 1968 and we worked very closely together; but our political career became even stronger after the 1973 elections.

Fazal and I were then taken up as cadres by then Party organizer, Pariag Sukhai, who was instrumental in recruiting us and graduating us from PYO members to PPP members. We were subsequently taken in hand by Mr. Ramlakhan, who was then the President of the RPA.

In fact, we often held meetings at Mr. Ramlakhan’s bottom-house, and that is how we were introduced to public speaking.

We went abroad to study in 1975 and, upon our return. Fazal’s militancy in the PPP resulted in his being imprisoned on a trumped-up murder charge in an effort by the oppressors to silence him. However, justice prevailed and Fazal was released. This experience had an effect opposite to the one intended by the then regime and Fazal became even more politically aware and active.

Upon his release Fazal lived for awhile with my family, then he joined GAWU as a Field-Secretary before accepting a position with the RPA, through which medium he served the farming community and the general society until his death in 2000.

He met Mitra Devi while they were both studying in the USSR and they were married after they returned home, where they lived happily with their two sons, Maxim and Karmal, until his untimely demise.

Mitra is currently Guyana’s ambassador to Cuba and is doing very well there.

Fazal was a very strong activist, a very steadfast friend, a fearless advocate for the farming community and the general society, a principled man committed to his own ideals and Dr. Jagan’s vision of a just and equal society where all Guyanese live peaceful and prosperous lives.

We both joined many peaceful picketing exercises during the long, hard fight for democracy. We both lived and worked in the PYO Secretariat. We both became Executive Members of the PYO and subsequently the PPP.

Almost a decade since his death he is still sorely missed, but his indomitable will has left its imprimatur in many of the achievements of the PPP administration.