Just over a month after he was fired in August 2020 from the job he previously held for four years with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport by the incoming government, Allister Klein Collins, 39, opened his own firm to practice as a Justice of the Peace and Commissioner of Oaths to Affidavits.
“Five days after the government changed, I received my marching orders and I saw it as a blessing even though I was on the breadline and there was a lot of uncertainty. I had the freedom of starting from zero. I was in the red. I had bills to pay, children to provide for, a family to look after,” Collins told Stabroek Weekend in an interview. He opened his business, Allister Collins Firm, on September 21, 2020 the day before his birthday.
“It was hard at the start,” he related. “I had rent to pay for office space. When you open you don’t make money immediately. There is stiff competition with Maraj Building where touts await you directing you to which JP to go to by the time you reach the gate. I had to be creative and do things that JPs would not normally do, like spending money for advertisements.”
Now, just over a year later, he said, “I am doing work for the oil companies. People are calling me from Canada, England, the USA, Paris in France to do stuff for them.”
If he was still employed with the government, he said, he would not be thinking about expansion or development of his business or how he could help others as he would have been just working for a salary.
As a JP one of the first decisions he took was to not charge pensioners for signing and stamping their life certificates or affixing signatures and stamps for children.
“I know people pay for everything here,” he said. “I told my staff I would not charge the elderly. They would have already served society. That is our form of giving back. It takes nothing for me to stamp and sign even though it is a business. If their pension is $20,000, to [pay] $1,000 [to] a JP just to say you are alive is akin to exploitation. I don’t think it is wise or fair for them to pay what they would have worked for and is now due to them. We do not charge for babies, for certifying their pictures. We do not charge a child if they need a picture certified.
“At that time, we needed every cent. We did it with a kind and clean heart. The Lord constantly opens doors.”
Collins took the oath of office as a JP and Commissioner of Oaths to Affidavits at the age of 36.
Born to Barbara Waldron, a driving instructor, he has an identical twin, Astell, who is his best friend. They grew up in a range house in Campbellville Housing Scheme in what he described as the ghetto of Campbellville.
“My mom was very protective of us. We were never allowed to play much outside. Our outing was mostly to church, lessons and we played a little bit of classical piano,” he recalled.
The twins did many things together including attending Christ Church Secondary and then St Rose’s High School and they both obtained associate degrees in medical technology (clinical pathology) at the University of Guyana. Collins went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in medical technology but his brother went to South Africa where he lived for five years.
The brothers had wanted to study medicine but at the time they applied the programme was not available and the next best thing was medical technology. During that period, they were preoccupied with migration which never took place.
They both did a work study attachment at Eureka Medical Laboratory and then the administrator hired only one because the entity could not hire both. So as not to be separated, “We decided we will work for one salary. Shortly after, someone left their job and we were both employed and paid separate salaries. I was trained as a quality officer and then I became the quality manager at Eureka Labs where I developed the quality management system,” he said.
After four years at Eureka, Collins formed his own business, Allkas Consultancy which provided a service for other laboratories in Guyana. He registered Allkas in Trinidad and Tobago and was soon operating in Grenada, St Lucia and the Cayman Islands. He stopped his operations in the Caribbean when his wife had a miscarriage. He is now the father of two children.
“Working in the Caribbean was kind of mind-blowing. It was the first time I experienced being independent and respected for my work. They actually value what you offered. Like what I could have worked for a year or even two years in Guyana, I could have worked for in one contract in Trinidad or in the Cayman Islands by just developing one quality management system. I didn’t know that type of business existed and I was able to tap into that,” he said.
Working in that atmosphere created an avenue for him where he felt empowered and did a lot more in giving back to society. About this time, he developed the craft of motivational speaking on self-empowerment, self-awareness and things like that. By this time, his brother Astell was a motivational conference speaker.
The travel experience, meeting different people and different cultures allowed him to change his thought patterns, so it was no longer just about earning larger sums but more about the value of self; he was pushed in the direction of serving people, helping them to develop their talents and providing mentorship.
After his Caribbean sojourn, Collins was hired at the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS), but he found it a bit stifling. For unknown reasons, he said, he felt openly sidelined and victimised politically. Although the NAPS was a semi-autonomous body, he said, the back-biting and victimisation forced him out. He then joined the Reference Laboratory at the Ministry of Health but the nine-to-five had begun to take a toll on him.
“That lasted for about a year or so and when the government changed I was employed as the Executive Officer of the President’s Youth Award of Guyana (PYARG) scheme and again when the government changed, I was fired,” he said.
During the period while he was resettling back into the regular working hours, his brother Astell had returned to Guyana. Together the brothers visited schools, churches, youth groups, government and state agencies including the prisons, the New Opportunity Corps and hospitals getting the message out about self-discovery, reformation and self-development.
Most times, he said, their presentations were well received. Most of the foundation of their teaching and mentorship, he said, came from Myles Munroe, a well-known Bahamian Pentecostal pastor. “The Pentecostal Church has played a great role in who I am today,” he said.
Youth award scheme
Collins served as Executive Officer of the PYARG for four years and sought during that time to help young people navigate their young adult years while making a contribution to society by doing community service, developing themselves by acquiring lifetime skills, testing their mental and physical endurance to the limit and engaging in recreational activities.
For a programme that is internationally recognised and which began under a PPP/C administration, Collins said, one of the challenges it faces, is buy-in.
“Even though the government is running the programme, many times they do not understand it.
There is that little hesitancy. Many times the very minister who has stewardship over the programme does not understand it. There were times when we were looking for the necessary funding, we had to go to an external private entity to ask for support,” he said. “Right now you are not hearing anything about PYARG because the very people who started it are not pushing it. I don’t know if it is the management or the minister who does not understand the programme. When it was under former minister Gail Teixeira, it was one of the best youth programmes.”
As it relates to buy-in and funding, if the permanent secretary and the minister understand and support the programme, he said, it would give the organisation a chance to focus on the needs of the young people.
One of its objectives is social cohesion, he said, noting that this is demonstrated in the activities that the participants from all walks of life and different parts of the country do together, learning different cultural values, coexisting and managing their own projects.
One of the best activities for Collins was Guyana hosting the 2017 Caribbean Award Assessment Scheme (CAAS). The scheme falls under the patronage of the Duke of Edinburgh.
He had participated in CAAS activities in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Grenada, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago and was impressed with the level of the participants. However, he viewed the Guyana activity, which saw 200 participants from the Caribbean as probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them. The activity included a road trip from Georgetown to Lethem where they were exposed to some of the 11 giants of El Dorado. The 11 giants are rare and endangered species found in Guyana including the jaguar, caiman, harpy eagle and anteater.
“We had corporate support and with the little support we got from government, we did miracles. It came off as the best,” he said.
PYARG is the recipient of the national award, Medal of Service.
Collins is also a director of Cariman, a regional organisation that deals with men who may be in abusive relationships. He was introduced to the organisation by Pastor Diego Alphonso, who works for the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. At a Cariman conference, he was elected a director and thereafter represented the Caribbean in Rwanda at Men Engage of which Cariman is an affiliate.
Noting that men suffer in abusive relationships, Collins said, “Men need to break their silence on what they suffer and seek help. It is no longer macho or manly to bear things in silence. That is why we explode and implode to these violent levels of abusive nature. I would say if there is a problem that you can’t solve, just seek help.”
Collins, who offers counselling, said he was aware of men being violated and he would direct those who go to him to the various places where they could be offered tangible assistance.
“Sometimes, men just need an outlet. Someone who will listen to them or offer them advice. So they do not have to feel like they are carrying the whole world on their shoulders,” he said.
Collins is the holder of an honorary doctorate in society and human rights from the United Graduate College and Seminary International, a recognised non-governmental ministry.
He was also appointed a goodwill ambassador of the Golden Rule by the United Religions Initiative in June 2017. The Golden Rule is a peace-building initiative.
