Dear Editor,
Documentation of Guyana’s post-colonial history will undoubtedly highlight the contribution of our national leaders and policy-makers. As more governmental authority is devolved, the emergence of a robust local administration arrangement will eventually give prominence to the life and times of those unsung heroes of rural ilk, whose prints have qualified them for folk hero status within their sphere of influence. The late Pariag Sukhai in my estimation was such a person throughout the national rice farming community. As leader of the Rice Producers Association (RPA) he was a Napoleonic adversary in height and combative prowess, who understood and reaped the fringe benefits of engaging in strategic alliances. I will illustrate by referring to two situations.
During the second rice crop of 1985, I was greeted with much hostility by several rice farmers upon assuming the position of branch manager of the Ruimzeight installation of the Guyana Rice Milling and Marketing Authority (GRMMA). I understood their anxiety and mistrust, as well as their consternation over having to place the result and income from their livelihood in the hands of someone whom they perceived was culturally incapable of delivering. Apart from sugar, rice was the next big economic activity in Region 3. The act made it mandatory for all padi produced to be sold to GRMMA. Drying and milling capacity at Ruimzeight was wholly inadequate resulting in private mills being contracted to toll mill padi into rice after intake, drying and storage. At the peak of the crop, drying facilities allowed for restricted intake because of tempering and “repass” processes to reach required storage moisture content. As a consequence, long lines of freshly harvested padi on trailers stretched sometimes for more than half a mile from the entrance of the installation, well past Windsor Forest Bridge. Agitated farmers vented their feelings by demonstrating with chants and placards. Some resorted to parking laden trailers in blockade formation to shut down the operation. There was even an attempt to sabotage the mill by feeding large rocks into the paddy husker. I remember a very disturbed Abel Felix, then general manager of GRMMA, contemplating the wisdom of calling on the security forces to protect the assets of the state.
I reached out for the support of levelheaded influential farmers, most prominent among them Pariag Sukhai, RPA leader with whom I built a bond of trust that quelled anxiety and hostility. His tenacity and passion for social justice for his membership was well balanced by his humility and sincerity to give of his utmost in ensuring rice farmers were not shortchanged. Pariag’s wise counsel along with those of the late Timothy Persaud, Pandit Tiwari, Eric Bart, Kayhume Hakh (all diseased) and Ganga (Bobby) Persaud guided my work and enabled ‘Ruimzeight Silo’ to weather the padi intake storms as well as overcome herculean challenges. Pariag was far more conciliatory than confrontational in looking out for the interest of his rice farming constituency. I would again reach out to him for support a few years later.
In 1989, as part of Guyana’s Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) undertaken by the Hoyte administration, GRMMA was divesting itself of the rice installations in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. National policy had come full circle from nationalization to privatization, though the rice holdings were always government owned. As secretary of the divestment committee and secretary of GRMMA, I was expected to ensure investors’ interests were adequately aroused to the point of a strong desire to acquire the holdings. Darlene Harris, Presidential Economic Advisor and Chairman of the divestment committee had mapped a brilliant strategy to achieve this end. The first installation to go was Anna Regina along with Somerset and Berks, in true Caricom spirit as a package to the ECGC of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Next on the agenda were the Ruimzeight and Wakenaam complexes. Rice farmers in Region 3 were more alert to the privatization initiative and though a farmers’ group had come together and entered a much underpriced bid, which could be interpreted as tacit acceptance of the policy measure, there were rumblings in the negative. I engaged a socialist but pragmatic RPA leader Pariag Sukhai, now supported by a pugnacious and watchful Fazal Ally (deceased), to discuss the likely benefits of having the core competencies of the private sector applied to the rice industry. Pariag the nationalist and astute leader, readily understood and helped in acceptance of a process that saw his membership reaping huge dividends from a padi price that almost tripled, just after the Ruimzeight deal was signed with Curacao Investments AVV.
The late Pariag Sukhai was a tactical Field Marshal as well as a loyal foot soldier − depending on the circumstance. A dedicated shirtjac man − never saw him in a suit – he was old-fashioned yet positively effective. A simple, courteous, engaging countryman. And what’s trendy about such a combination of ancient and modern qualities at this time when he is called to higher service? I’ll tell you: In this day of advanced communication technology, an election of the leader of one point two billion people is still communicated by smoke signal.
My sympathy is extended to his bereaved relatives.
May his soul rest in peace.
Yours faithfully,
Derrick Cummings
