Amna Ally gave me a bottle of Johnny Walker

Jun 10, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – In more than 50 years of social activism in Guyana, an occurrence that I will always reflect on involves one of the persons in Guyana most dedicated to the PNC, its stalwart, Ms. Amna Ally.
The year was 2015. The day was December 24. The gate bell rang and I went to meet the man who came out of his car with a Christmas bag in his hand. He told me, Minister Amna Ally sent a Christmas gift for me. It was a bottle of Johnny Walker with a Christmas card that had written in it, the words, “Thank you, Freddie, Merry Christmas!” I went straight to my wife and told her I cannot fathom the mystery. Over my fifty odds years in political activities, I hardly interacted with Amna Ally. The occasional times, I met with her, she would smile, say a few words of comfort to me over bad things that were happening to me and that was that.
I can only remember one occasion having an extended chat with Amna. It was when there was an attempt on my life at midnight in 2012 during a vigil we named the People’s Parliament. In a drooling tone, she simply said: “You must be careful, you could have died.” She spoke a little more about the attack and that was it.
During the 2015 election campaign, my activities were with the AFC and I think our path crossed a few times and whatever she spoke there had a jocular tone to it. I think Amna Ally is one of the most humorous politicians Guyana has produced. I never really knew Ms. Ally. I did not have even a tiny relation with her. So the Christmas gift was a bamboozling surprise. Of course I don’t imbibe but she would not have known that because she doesn’t know me.
The key to the mystery were in the words: “Thank you, Freddie.” I still retain the interpretation I put on her action in 2015. I think she compiled a list of persons she should thank after the 2015 election and she included my name. When you compare her attitude to me with AFC and other PNC leaders, it shows how inexplicable is the mind of the human that perhaps we may never know humans.
Here is something I only told Norman Brown of the UK PNC branch during an interview he did with me in 2021. I had not seen Khemraj Ramjattan since he became a minister in May 2015. In 2016, I went to his ministry to see my long standing friend, Leonard Craig who was the personal aide to the minister. As I was waiting for the security rank to communicate with Craig, the minister came in, saw me, and nonchalantly asked: “You getting through?” I said yes, and the minister climbed his way up the stairs.
Given my activism in Guyana, I think any other minister would have extended his hand and greeted me. Even in my days of political activities against the PPP government, not one PPP minister was unfriendly to me when they encountered me. I can say without even an ounce of hesitation, they would always talk to me and were never unpleasant.
This column was driven by the absence of the Leader of the Opposition and many of those close to him in the PNC’s central executive at the recent birthday of Ms. Ally. Of course, I don’t know the reason. Maybe they had other pressing engagements. That does not prevent me from having my own interpretation. I cannot see why Mr. Norton would be at the birthday event of Queen Elizabeth hosted by the British High Commission and not at the birthday of someone who in the history of the PNC is regarded as one of the PNC’s great loyalists.
One theory could be that the factional dispute in the PNC that emerged during the contest for leadership in the last two months of 2021 has left some serious fissures. Former President David Granger was there with his wife. Joseph Harmon was there and so was a name that will feature strategically in future leadership battles, Roysdale Forde.
Looking at the pictures of the birthday publicly posted by one of the PNC’s rising stars, Ganesh Mahipaul, the analyst gets the feeling that there are currents in the PNC’s river that are building up. The analyst could not miss the presence of three top Indian personalities in the PNC’s leadership – Mahipaul, Mayor Subraj and Region 4 chairman Daniel Seeram. Noticeable absentees were the three top female names in the PNC – Amanda Walton Desir, Dr. Karen Cummings and Coretta McDonald. Happy birthday Amna!
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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Amna Ally gave me a bottle of Johnny Walker

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