Amanza Walton-Desir, leader of the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) and Member of Parliament, has called on the government to implement a long-term, strategic plan to reduce poverty, warning that temporary cash grants cannot address the country’s deepening inequalities.
In a letter to the press, Walton-Desir highlighted figures from the Inter-American Development Bank’s 2024 report: 58% of Guyanese live in poverty, and 32% in extreme poverty. “These figures are not abstract data points—they represent families who are struggling to survive, parents who skip meals so their children can eat, and communities whose hopes are dimming under the weight of a worsening cost-of-living crisis,” she wrote.
While acknowledging that cash grants provide immediate relief, Walton-Desir stressed they cannot solve structural problems. “A cash grant is, at best, a plaster placed over a deep and expanding wound… Once the money is spent, often within days, the realities remain unchanged, and in many cases, worsen,” she said.
Walton-Desir outlined six pillars for a sustainable national poverty reduction strategy:
- Stable, well-paid jobs that allow families to build wealth rather than survive week to week.
- Predictable, affordable cost of living, including fuel, food, and transport.
- Support for farmers, fisherfolk, and small businesses, ensuring equal access to credit and resources.
- Fair distribution of national wealth, particularly revenues from oil.
- Protection of vulnerable groups, including women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.
- Strong, functioning institutions that enforce laws fairly and ensure citizens can trust the system.
“Guyanese must demand a future where prosperity is not a slogan but a reality, where development strengthens households, not headlines; where institutions serve the people; where no child goes to bed hungry in a nation overflowing with potential,” Walton-Desir wrote.
Guyana is ranked as the world’s fastest-growing economy and the richest on a per-capita basis. Since first oil production in 2019, the country has earned more than US$6 billion from oil and gas. Yet, despite this rapid growth, poverty persists among its population of fewer than 780,000.
She emphasised that only a coherent, people-centred strategy rooted in fairness, sustainability, and economic justice can turn the country’s wealth into real progress. “We cannot outsource this struggle. It belongs to us. And so does the future of our beloved Guyana.”
The FGM leader’s letter comes as public debate intensifies over the equitable distribution of the country’s rapidly growing oil wealth and the urgent need for structural solutions to poverty.
