The price of food is something worth talking about. Most food items are at least fifty percent higher than they were two years ago.
Guyana is a rice eating country. No Guyanese would trade rice for any other staple. Guyana is a rice producer and it produces a lot. Its production is not enough to command the attention of the world market but it is enough to keep every Guyanese happy.
But steadily, its cost has been rising. The argument is that the imported inputs are costing more, and indeed they are.
Fertiliser, in addition to being more expensive, comes with a higher shipping fee. Whatever it is, rice is costing so much more.
Other food items are also costing more. Sugar, milk, and other basic foods are more expensive. Those who have employment are complaining. Imagine the plight of those who have no jobs. That is why so many children are falling by the wayside.
They are not going to school. Many boys gravitate to a life of crime and lose their lives. There was the video circulating of two very young men killed after an attack on a Chinese supermarket in the city. One of the young men was said to be fifteen.
There was another video of a mother exhibiting no grief because she said that her son simply refused to heed her warnings. That is the case all over.
Those who do slightly better create frustrating situations. With their limited vocabulary they have a torrid time explaining the situation to customers.
On the other hand, there are the smart ones who exploit the situation.
A man is before the courts for withdrawing some $36 million from a customer’s account. And this was achieved over a period of nearly three years.
Whether the owner of the account had a pattern was not stated. But the perpetrator actually secured an identification card in the account holder’s name. This then begs the question of the signature. Signatures can be forged but the withdrawal pattern should have attracted attention.
Then there are the monthly bank statements. These should have alerted the holder but they were probably ignored or were not being sent.
These people who may not have secured a pile of CXC subjects have brains that are so devious that the individual borders on being very clever. These are the people who can use people’s online shopping habits to rob them with near impunity.
Fortunately, these are not many.
The ordinary man must still struggle to make money. There are those who chase luck. They go into the goldfields which has perhaps the largest number of people working. Many make enough money to support their families but even here there are problems.
Those left behind have interests in the absence of the spouse and that could see some of the money being loaned or spent in less demanding areas.
The government is dangling money before the eyes of people. There was the cash grant that saw people nearly killing each other. The sum of money seemed attractive but no one considered how far that money would have gone to help them.
Now there is the promise of more cash grants in the years ahead. Some would die of hunger before those cash grants are paid.
In the not too distant past people would have been packing their bags for the so-called greener pastures. Those pastures are now more elusive. The United States was a choice destination. Today it is not even a considered destination given the immigration policies of the present administration.
Just yesterday Guyana was mentioned as a country to face severe United States immigration policies.
Those who once went hoping to stay with relatives for a while even as they seek jobs as undocumented immigrants have second and third thoughts. Those who are already there are not walking the streets.
A lot has to be done to adjust the cost of living. Some talk about paying people a living wage. However, there are the contractors and the oil company. These pay good wages but they can only employ so many. In addition, they seek people with the requisite skills.
That is where the training institutions should come in but these have been neglected over the years. The multilateral schools introduced by Forbes Burnham was an excellent nursery. These are all but dead because the focus has shifted to academics.
Many years ago the experts recognized that not everyone is academically inclined. That allowed for the creation of the masons, carpenters and even the cobblers. Today Guyana has a dire shortage of masons and carpenters.
The unfortunate thing is that there is no studied programme to correct the situation. The Guyana National Service was a training facility but the People’s Progressive Party killed it.
If the cadre of skilled people is improved there would be less pressure on many households. The government does not seem to be interested.
It is more comfortable using imported and migrant labour to undertake the many contracts. This is at the expense of the Guyanese households.
