Dear Editor,
The recent comments by President Irfaan Ali suggesting that Guyanese need to change their eating habits, shop differently and eat out less because of the rising cost of living deserve a strong response.
With all due respect to the President, Guyanese people did not create this cost-of-living crisis by deciding to shop in supermarkets or occasionally eat at a restaurant.
Families are struggling because the cost of basic necessities has risen to levels that are becoming increasingly difficult to manage. Food, rent, transportation, utilities and other essential expenses are putting tremendous pressure on working people, pensioners and families across Guyana.
The President is the head of the Government and, therefore, carries responsibility for creating the policies and economic environment under which Guyanese are expected to live. For the President to make a statement like this to a nation he is responsible for is, quite frankly, outright disrespectful to the very people he was elected to serve.
Imagine a working mother trying to stretch her salary to feed her children, pay rent, transportation, electricity and other bills, only to hear that her lifestyle and eating habits are partly responsible for the high cost of living. Imagine the pensioner who has spent a lifetime contributing to this country being told, in effect, to simply change what they eat.
That is not the message struggling Guyanese deserve to hear from their President.
If supermarkets have excessive margins, then regulate and monitor those margins.
If farmers are receiving too little while consumers are paying too much, then fix the supply chain.
If transportation, storage and distribution are driving up prices, then address those problems.
If imported inflation is contributing to higher prices, then use Guyana’s considerable oil revenues to build greater economic resilience.
And if workers are struggling to survive, then the Government must address wages and purchasing power.
The responsibility of Government is not to tell citizens what they should eat. The responsibility of Government is to create an economy where working people can afford to put food on their tables.
It is particularly difficult for ordinary Guyanese to accept lectures about changing their eating habits in an oil-rich Guyana, where billions of dollars in petroleum revenues are flowing into the national economy.
We have been told repeatedly about Guyana’s unprecedented economic growth and the tremendous wealth being generated from our natural resources. But what does that wealth mean to the family that still has to choose which bill to pay this month?
What does it mean to the worker whose salary disappears before the next payday?
What does it mean to the pensioner who has to choose between medication and groceries?
And what does it mean to the young family that cannot keep up with rent, food and transportation costs?
Guyana’s oil wealth cannot only be celebrated in speeches and economic statistics. It must be felt in the pockets and households of ordinary Guyanese.
Let us also be clear: Guyanese are not irresponsible because they want to eat the foods they enjoy. They are not irresponsible because they shop at supermarkets.
They are not responsible for excessive mark-ups, weak competition, supply-chain inefficiencies or government policy failures.
People are simply trying to survive.
The President should therefore be listening to the frustrations of the people rather than appearing to place the blame on them.
Instead of telling Guyanese to change their eating habits, the Government should be telling the nation what it is going to do to bring down the price of food.
Where is the stronger consumer protection?
Where is the serious action against excessive mark-ups?
Where is the investment in local food production, storage and distribution?
Where is the strategy to ensure that wages keep pace with the cost of living?
And where is the accountability when citizens continue to complain about the same economic pressures year after year?
The people of Guyana deserve more than advice on how to spend their money. They deserve an economy that allows them to live with dignity.
Mr. President, you are the President of all Guyanese. When ordinary citizens are struggling, your first response should be empathy, accountability and solutions—not an explanation that can be interpreted as blaming them for their own hardship.
The people did not elect the Government to tell them how to eat. They elected the Government to govern.
Guyana is blessed with enormous natural resources. We have oil, gold, bauxite, timber, fertile agricultural lands and a population that continues to work hard and contribute to the development of this country.
The question is not whether Guyana has enough resources.
The question is whether those resources are being translated into a better quality of life for the ordinary Guyanese citizen.
A government should never become so disconnected from the struggles of its people that it mistakes survival for a lifestyle choice.
Guyanese are not asking for luxury.
They are asking for affordable food, decent wages, affordable housing, reliable public services and the opportunity to provide for their families.
That is not too much to ask.
That is the bare minimum citizens should expect from a Government presiding over an oil-rich nation.
Yours truly,
Lorenzo Joseph
UWP Activist – Region 10
Trade Union Advocate
