Interviews and photos by Bebi Oosman
Stabroek News on Thursday spoke to Berbicians generally about the rising cost of living and how it was affecting them. Their comments follow:
Michael Johnson, 74, – `The cost of living affecting me because things raise and I ain’t getting no additional income. Is the one income I did getting last year, I getting this year and the prices and everything triple’.
`The goods and services to my mind, the thing become a style and all these name brands, raising the prices. For example, five mangoes right now is for a $1,000, them ain’t got to water the mango tree, them ain’t got to give it more fertilizer nothing, let them justify why mango price gone up, let them justify that?
`The only thing is price control like what Burnham used to do, because then ain’t got nothing else to thing that, because as long as you have a free market system people gonna put what price they want, simple. And to my mind what going on with people is that they just coming together and decide on prices so if you go into the market now everybody got one price for a particular items so the competiveness is not there’.
Beverly Jones, a vendor at the Corriverton – `To be honest it’s not affecting me because I heard it’s not Guyana alone is all the other countries get the same problem and you got to work towards it. The things you used to do you got to cut down on it, wah you gone do, it’s all over. I think they might need to stop building the roads and give the small business people money, help them without no strings attached. Just come and visualize what going on and give the people some many, we get less than a million people in this country things should have been better for us. I’m not rich but I’m satisfied’.
Amanda Rose, Brighton Village, Corentyne – `Right now the price of everything gone up and well it’s hard on us, you can’t afford to buy certain things now to sell back because the price high, so it’s hard on us to make back something. I think if they gave at least vendors, help some vendors to afford to buy stuff would be good. Because when we buy things at a high price and it ain’t selling back we get stuck with it and we not making much of a profit.
Lalita, a fruit vendor of Corriverton – `It too high right now, I’m a single parent and I have two kids and I finding it very hard. Everything increase a lot, is real difficulty. Now you don’t get no spare change at all. Everything I got buy for them two kids gone up. Everything for school and for home, it increase a lot and it very hard. Then the bills coming in and now we got to try make it work, we can’t say we getting spare change we got to use every cent to get by’.
Kishan Sastry, 53, Sno cone vendor – `The cost of living rough bad, me a sell ice and business bad. It’s more difficult than before, estate shut down, people buying less, people used to come and buy but na now. It rough now, I get kids and I get a bruk foot at the estate me used to feed boiler so I got to do this because I can’t really do nothing hard so when everything going up I got to try make do. Wha we go do gal? This the only job me can really, and me a try. Things really slow though, them prices gone up and business slow. We need money, we need money, we need assistance’.
Shawn Sugrim – `Cost of living it tight, everything raise up right now, nothing na go down, the money slow bad, it na circulate nuff, money na deh like before and cost of living high, nothing na go down. Sugar gone up, rice gone up, everything gone up and nothing na go low, everything a go up. Me and meh wife separate and me get two kids and me a take care of them but things fa them expensive too. Them need to make more place fa people work and employ nuff workers because the money na do, we need more income, we need more money to come in.
Jane, 66, from Yakusari, Black Bush Polder – `Oh God! It hard, all thing increase, all them foodstuff, everything all thing increase watch where oil gone, watch where flour gone. Right now in Black Bush $20 a pound for ochro, and watch manure how it expensive, you na make nothing. I think if them get people to export the greens when it plenty it can help because it na go flood the market if them carry it out’.
Errol Alfred, 47, from Number 63 Village, Corentyne – `People na buy now, business slow a lot, people na come out at all. It very expensive to make them things this, chicken foot and plantain chip and so and we making the smallest profit we ever make right now. I think them need to try drop the prices of items abbay a buy, like oil, flour and sugar. Sugar expensive more than anything right now’.
Aliya Joyce, 18, – `I’ve been selling things about three years and things have increased. When we have to buy goods, its more on us and then when we have to bring it back to resell we have to sell more than we used to sell. Shoppers are buying as much and they always question why the price raise and when you try to tell them it raise on your end as well they don’t seem to care. They think you should still sell it for the same price but then I won’t be making anything. As a young person in this country, I feel there needs to be more jobs available, because when you finish school and looking for a job one is hard to find. We need better opportunities for both older and younger people’.
