Dear Editor,
I have been following the SN series titled, “How the cost of living is hitting people…” I thank SN for sparing the time and space to bring the reality of Guyanese life today into the consciousness of all of us. The series, which is in its fifth chapter (Part 5), as of yesterday is poignant and powerful; it should hit home sharply on how difficult it is for ordinary Guyanese to cope with day-to-day living, as they grapple to get the basics that make for a decent existence.
On Monday, I counted 10 Guyanese who gave their positions on the question raised about cost of living. Specifically, how it is hitting them at the individual level. It is almost the same story, the same lament of pain and anguish as was grasped from the preceding four parts. Conservatively, over 90% of the Guyanese questioned/surveyed had these two things to say. The prices of most items are up steeply, and they are feeling it, they are hurting. It may be over 95% of the people responding in this manner, if not closer to 99%. Editor, this would be a devastating set of circumstances in any poor country. But it still would not be acceptable; just could not be.
People look to government to provide any kind of relief that may give their lives some little breathing space, in that they can manage to access the necessities for a standard meal. A standard meal is one that would not be served by a 3-star hotel, maybe even a second-rate motel in some remote area. But that standard meal would allow a mother or father to have some sense of dignity that they have provided for, done their best, to give the children something for their stomachs, or backs; or their coughs and fevers. And this is even if they have to do with a little less themselves.
In a down at the bottom Third World society, this may (may) be understandable, even absorbable. But, the same cannot be said, must never be said, for a country that is making headlines the world over for its fabled oil wealth. I just saw a headline indicating that Guyana is or would be the third largest non-OPEC oil producing country in the world. I am sure that it is, and we are. But, I urge all-editorial writers, letter writers, op-ed writers, columnists, and other contributors in the public space-to consider how much more punishing that news is for Guyanese weeping and wailing in the pages of SN relative to how the cost of living is hitting the people. This is not of other people, but of themselves.
It is how insulting the consideration of that truth would be for the mass of Guyanese since it has not one iota of meaning for them, no significance in the bleakness of their tormenting days. I will not take aim at either the PPP Government or its leaders for the callousness of both, the deafness of all of them, and their craven supporters. I say nothing else in that direction. All I do now is simply to point in the direction of SN’s how the cost of living is hitting people, and let it speak for itself. It speaks for me. I am re-migrant, with little in Guyana, and I can tell that the price environment is not the same as, say, two or three years ago. It is not incrementally higher, but disastrously steeper, and barely tolerable, terribly unmanageable for the ordinary Guyanese.
Given where we are, given what we have, given what was done and not done, this just should not be. Guyanese are almost like Saudis, conceptually and statistically speaking, maybe even better, considering the grand numbers. But almost has never been more distant, and also never looked more unlikely.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
