Amna Ally is one of the two regional parliamentarians representing Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) and could be considered a veteran. She has been a parliamentarian since 1985, save for a three-year period between 1998 and 2001.
Her pet peeve in recent years has been the wholesale discarding of programmes by the present government without any review being conducted to determine their merit or feasibility.
Ally first entered parliament in 1985 and served until 1997. She was then out of the National Assembly until 2001 when she returned as one of the regional representatives for Region Five. Having sat as both a government and opposition parliamentarian, Ally says her experience after 1992 has been frustrating as she witnesses so many things going wrong simply because the government is intent on discarding any programme initiated by the PNC without considering its merits. As an example she cited the abandonment of the PNC's Economic Recovery Programme, which by 1992 was beginning to provide tangible benefits.
Ally describes the relationship between the backbenchers of the governing and opposition parties as cordial, explaining that they relate to each other as necessary. She explains that for example when she was Shadow Minister for Home Affairs between 1992-1997 she often made suggestions to then Minister Feroze Mohamed, whom she describes as a good listener, but whom she says did nothing about them if they did not accord with the PPP's plans. "The PPP are very good at making promises but they do not see them through."
As another example, she cites the school uniform issue. She explains that Minister in the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick, was very receptive when first approached about the distribution of the vouchers but reneged on the commitments she gave. Ally says that she still receives bitter complaints about the distribution of the school uniform vouchers.
Ally is a trained teacher and a graduate of the University of Guyana with a degree in public management. She teaches the Common Entrance Class at Redeemer Primary and has been doing so since September 1998.
Her teaching career started in 1972 as a pupil teacher at the Rosignol Primary School, where she worked until 1984 including the two years she spent at the Cyril Potter between 1978 and 1980. She returned to teaching in September 1998 after serving first as national secretary of the PNC's Young Socialist Movement (YSM)(1984-1992) and as administration and finance manager at the PNC Secretariat. As the YSM national secretary she was responsible for its administration and finance. She also served as a special assistant to then general secretary, Robert Corbin, now the leader of the PNCR.
Ally is a native of Number 11 Village, West Coast Berbice and attended the Cotton Tree Primary School. She also attended the Chandisingh High School on the Corentyne Coast for a year before moving to Berbice Educational Institute in New Amsterdam where she completed her secondary education.
Her involvement in politics dates back to 1969 when she joined the YSM. During 1972 and 1973 she attended the YSM Cadre Training Programme at Loo Creek. In 1973 she was elected YSM chairman for her region and served in that position until 1978.
Ally is a member of the Parliamentary Management Committee and she says that no major problem has arisen and that her party is trying to convince the government of the need to provide a parliamentary agenda. She says that government is making some effort in this regard.
Ally explains that the government has said that it is experiencing some difficulty in having bills drafted and she agrees that it is a problem.
About the level of deliberations in the parliament, Ally says that the government has to rid itself of the belief that because it has a parliamentary majority, it must have its way at all times. She explains that the deliberations would be more fruitful if the government desists from the practice of always using its majority to get its way without considering the merits of the suggestions being offered by the opposition. "The deliberations must be taken in a more serious context not just from the political point of view."
To illustrate this she cites the government's insistence on inserting the Public Service Senior Staff Association in the consultation process for nominating persons to be members of the Public Service Commission in the face of the dissenting voices of the opposition parties. "The deliberations cannot be fruitful with that sort of approach."
Though she lives in Georgetown now, Ally visits her constituency regularly and interacts with the Regional Democratic Council and through the councillors with the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils in the region.
She says that the main concern of the various communities is drainage, as a result of the breaches to the sea defence dam at Profit/Foulis.
She says that the President as well as regional officials and PNC officials have visited the area and that though the President has promised to get the breach fixed as a matter of urgency it has not been done. Ally says that the residents have not received any compensation for the losses they have suffered and are upset that while the government has reached out to other areas which have suffered losses it has not reached out to them. The affected areas include Belladrum, which is a PNC stronghold.
Ally says that the issue has been raised with the government, the representatives of the other political parties as well as on television.
She also referred to the plight of the retrenched workers of the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary/Agricultural Development Authority some of whom she says are yet to receive all of their severance benefits.
Also she says that with the closure of the rice milling operations at Burma many of the villagers are leaving the area to find employment. The area has no electricity and life is becoming very tough.
Ally has served under the three leaders of the PNC - Burnham, Hoyte and Corbin - and she says she enjoyed a good working relationships with all three. She says that the PNCR is fortunate to have Corbin as its leader at this time because of his style of leadership, which is suited to the amount of fieldwork the party has to undertake.
She also referred to the restructuring of the party, which provides for the establishment of a number of committees that focus on various issues, which it considers, would be of benefit to the party and nation.