My association with Fazal Ally began in 1986 when we were both members of the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO). I was then in my teens and Fazal was quite a bit older and much wiser, but we worked together with cohesion while doing work for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

President Jagdeo meeting with Fazal and a delegation of farmers mere hours before his accidental death. Then Agriculture Minister, Pt. Reepu Daman Persaud, is seen standing second left.

By 1987 we had developed a very good relationship. In November of 1989 I joined the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (RPA) as an Extension Officer and he became my mentor, having been at that time the Assistant General-Secretary of the RPA and my immediate boss.

Most of what I learnt about farmers and their issues, the work of the RPA, making representation on issues, drainage and irrigation matters, among the accumulated knowledge I acquired on primarily the rice industry, and generally the agriculture, I learnt from Fazal Ally in the first instance, and Pariag Sukhai as the overall boss of the RPA.

Providing service to the farmers was very difficult during that period because the environment at that time from the then Government’s position was not conducive to supporting the work of the RPA, and farmers generally.

The PNC regime, instead of looking at the rice industry as a viable economic base from which the entire country could benefit, basically politicized the industry and instead suppressed the entire agricultural sector because of their perception that farmers were mainly supporters of Dr. Cheddi Jagan and the PPP.

So the RPA, and its sister agency, the Guyana Agricultural Producers’ Association, which Fazal also served as General-Secretary, had to struggle within this paradigm of governmental neglect to the extent of suppression of the vital agricultural sector in general, and rice in particular, because of the perception – whether real or not, that supporting the farmers was in effect empowering the supporters of the PPP.

Rice industry delegation meeting with Agriculture Minister, Pt Reepu Daman Persaud. Fazal and Seeraj are at the Minister’s immediate left

In effect, farmers were merely subsisting and unable to pay dues, so funds in the RPA was severely limited and sometimes just not there.

I began working for $2,000 per month and Fazal was raising a family with a salary not much larger, but that did not deter our efforts to help the farmers and provide service to farming communities.

We were totally committed to our motto of “To Promote, Protect, and Advance the Interests of Rice Producers, Generally”, and the challenge of the times was enervating instead of proving an inhibition to our drive to develop the sector.

Mobility was severely constrained because then General-Secretary Pariag Sukhai, Fazal and I had to share one motorbike to do field work.

The RPA could not pay extension officers so the organization had to depend on the farmers themselves for voluntary work in the areas of research and the provision of extension services.

But they were also exciting times. Dealing with and overcoming the diverse challenges were oftentimes motivational and at times overcoming the hurdles were even enjoyable.

The restrictions on the RPA itself did not in any way constrain the activities of the organization, and during RPA demonstrations in 1989, the police turned loose vicious tracker dogs on the farmers.

However, the environment became more conducive with the advent of the Carter Centre into the political sphere of Guyana, which impelled Hoyte’s ERP, because the donor community, and essentially the American and British Governments, had become over the years increasingly embarrassed by the PNC, with which they had collaborated to destabilize the first PPP Government to place their PNC associates in Government.

This reversal by the world powers in the landscape of Guyana’s politics compelled a general relaxation of the Draconian attitude by the PNC toward the sector.

During this period a gentleman by the name of Vic Nemdhari, who was working at CIDA, facilitated the donation of four motorcycles to the RPA from that organization, which strengthened RPA’s mobility.

Previous attempts by the RPA as an NGO to access assistance from the international donor community were blocked at the government level.

Nemdhari was instrumental in making the donor community aware of the work of the RPA and subsequent instances of assistance followed.

However, this upward mobility spiraled downward when millions of dollars worth of equipment, which had been donated by PAHO through the intercession of RPA’s friend and benefactor, Mr. Keith Burrowes, went up in flames during one of the PNC’s street protests, which left the RPA with neither office nor equipment to carry on its work.

After the PPP/C won the general elections of 1992, Pariag Sukhai became the Regional Chairman of Region 5, Fazal was promoted to the position of General-Secretary of the RPA, and I became Deputy General-Secretary.

Successive PPP governments have always driven the agricultural sector because the sector was perceived by PPP leaders as a strong economic base for the entire country, along with their conviction that a strong agri-sector would ensure food security for the entire nation, and the region as a whole.

So the industry, through interventions by the RPA, with Fazal proving a strong advocate for the farmers, began accelerating production.

The absolute respect that Fazal, who was by then also a Parliamentarian, engendered among his associates in the higher echelons of policy-makers ensured that his advocacy on the farmers’ behalf, fructified in solid assistance from the Government for the agricultural sector.

Fazal made representation on behalf of both the RPA and GAPA.

GAPA had been organized by Pariag Sukhai, primarily, and Esahak Basir in 1986, because the RPA Act does not provide for the organization to represent non-rice farmers.

However, the executives of the RPA also formed the executive body of GAPA, thereby enabling the non-traditional farming sector to have representation.

Tremendous support was also provided to the RPA by old stalwarts, and Dr. Jagan contributed to the militancy of the organization during his tenure as President of the fourth elected council from 1956 to 1959.

However it was Pt Budhram Mahadeo who served as President of the organization during the tenure as General-Secretary of both Pariag Sukhai and Fazal Ally.

In my time, Fazal Ally was the person whom I worked closely with. We enjoyed a very wonderful relationship and I was very impressed by his attitude and his approach to problem-resolution, his respect for everyone regardless their status, his drive and determination, and his commitment to the sector itself.

His aggression and uncompromising stance in dealing with issues in which he believed was rooted in the confidence he had acquired as a long-standing member of the PPP’s Central Committee and the Executive Committee; especially with his long interaction of dealing with Dr. Jagan, who had moulded him and nurtured his militancy to enhance his ability to deal with the challenging times then prevailing in the country.

Pariag Sukhai also contributed to the formation of his personality.

Fazal worked with GAWU as a Field-Secretary for a period, and during those times the sugar workers also were being severely victimized.

His roots in Canal No. 1, which is an agricultural-based community, grounded him in the dynamics of the sector.

His aggression stemmed from the oppressive environment of the day, where PPP supporters had to fight with determination for every inch of concession from the then administration, and when he felt he was right he was like a bull-dog – inflexible, immovable, and uncompromising.

When he was fighting to protect the interests of the vulnerable he would fight tooth and nail, although at times he fought for causes that had no merit, because sometimes farmers are themselves blameworthy – such as times when they destroy infrastructure to promote their individual benefits, which, while one recognizes his commitment to the farming community, sometimes undermined his advocacy in instances when the cause for which he was fighting was a just one.

For Fazal, rice farmers were always right, but of course no-one is always right, but Fazal disregarded this and fought their cause under every circumstance, and at every relevant forum.

Under my watch I have no qualms about telling farmers that if they tamper with structures it would be to their eventual detriment, and the RPA has to take a position that would eventuate in the ultimate good of all farmers.

However, one has to gauge Fazal’s personality within the context of it having been moulded through a continuum of struggle against the hostile environment then prevailing.

His approach had softened after the Government had changed and the agricultural sector began receiving support at the national level.

It is a tragedy that we lost him so early, because he was an indefatigable fighter for the rights of the farmers, and a strong, dedicated, committed champion for the rights of the vulnerable within the wider society. If he had survived, he would have evolved into a leader par excellence and a complete agriculturalist.

We lost him too early, and whilst I am grateful for the years we spent together, it is unfortunate that he is no longer here.

Even now, ten years on, farmers still talk longingly about Fazal Ally, which is an indication of the quality of the individual that he was; that he can be missed so long after his passing.

He would always be unforgettable to those in this generation who knew him or interacted with him.

I have not attended any forum where agriculture was being discussed and the name of Fazal Ally was not mentioned, up to last week in Parliament, especially because of the joy he would have felt that we are breaking into non-traditional markets such as Venezuela.

Even at fora in the region he has made his mark, and that mark is not going to dissipate any time soon.

A lot of the principled positions I take – at the level of the RPA itself, the commitment to the sector that I have, my political and social awareness and conscience – most of the things that I stand for as an individual have been ingrained in me by Fazal Ally through his passionate commitment to the sector in particular, and the society in general.

Like Fazal, I myself came from a farming community – Cane Grove on the left bank of the Mahaica River, so we empathized largely on mutual interests within the sector.

Fazal was a very rounded and grounded individual, despite his lack of a tertiary education; but he could have held his own in any company or forum.

He shared platforms with persons who had reached the pinnacle of academia and no-one could tell the difference when he got up to talk – because his passion, his knowledge, his content and delivery style mesmerized every audience that has ever had occasion to listen to him.

Regardless the issue, he would bite the bullet and approach it head on, and his delivery style was inimitable, uniquely Fazal’s in a spellbinding way.

He took strong positions and defended those positions with absolute conviction, and only Dr. Cheddi Jagan, whom he revered almost like God, could have influenced him to shift positions once he was convinced that he was right.

He gave one hundred percent of himself to whatever he undertook.

His principled positions did not even spare family, and when his brother Asgar Ally acted in ways that brought disrepute to the PPP Fazal publicly upbraided him.

He was recognized, liked and appreciated at all levels; but I think one of the high points of his life was when Dr. Cheddi Jagan took him to meet the Pope during the World Food Summit in 1996, which was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome; which must have been a very interesting meeting, because Fazal and the Pope had apposite personalities.

There are millions of people in Italy, in Rome, who have not met the Pope, but the irreverent radical that was Fazal Ally was able to meet the Pope, shake his hand, have a conversation, and I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall to have heard that conversation, because Fazal was an inimitable raconteur, but his stories were often not fit for holy ears, and he was not known to curb his tongue.

However, Dr. Jagan recognized the gem that Fazal was and was instrumental in facilitating that landmark meeting. Dr. Jagan most likely felt that the Pope would have made an impact on Fazal, but I tend to think that Fazal made on impact on the Pope instead.

However, that meeting did impact on Fazal, because he spoke about it with excitement when he returned home, although he was not an overtly religious person.

But that does not mean that he was not a decent person, or a good human being. He did the things that he thought was right. He gave selfless service to people, he was a committed champion of the farmers, and his advocacy on their behalf was beyond limits, and that, to my mind, is really practicing religion in the true sense.

He was a Moslem married to a Hindu and he attended mosque, mandir, and church with equal reverence, but his real religion was to serve people.

He supported the Hindu Dharmic Sabha and worked very closely with the CIOG and Pt. Reepu Daman Persaud to address social issues nationwide, either through a social, a religious, or a governmental configuration; or in his capacity as a farmers’ representative, so whatever he did for society was done without any bias – religious, racial, political, or otherwise, because he had been infused with magnanimity from his interactions with Dr. Jagan, who always sought unity and integration as the way to progress in our country.

I think he felt congregating in buildings at given times was irrelevant, because the religious texts did not mean much to him, given that they were written by men – holy as they may be; who were influenced by the environment at that particular juncture of time, but which may be irrelevant in the context of today’s world – many generations after.

But his philosophy was to do good to and for people with total commitment and dedication, and this in itself constitutes religion and prayer.

We had discussions on this issue, and his general philosophy was that the religious texts would have been subjective to the environment of the prevailing times, but if one did good things for one’s fellow man, then if ever there was a hereafter, then those who serve mankind would find a place there.

When we lost him so unexpectedly, so tragically ten years ago, all those who knew this vibrant character who was so full of life went into shock. The RPA reeled from this loss, as did the PPP, as well as the entire country, because he had many friends even across the floor.

And I believe that if there is a place for good people in the afterlife, then Fazal is there. He has found that place.