Dear Editor,
I am searching for some silver linings in SN’s grim cost-of-living series, now in its 17th reincarnation. I think reincarnation fits, for the accounts of suffering Guyana have the same shadows and substances to them. Weekly, there are these barrages of Guyanese calling attention to their situation, and that of the wider nation, and nobody pays them any attention, or is talking about some kind of a helping hand for them. The President in his swings throughout Guyana has been noticeably silent; it is pardonable, as he has many things on his mind, and bigger issues on his plate. But when one Guyanese, or one spot on the map of this land, struggles with managing their bare table in this oil rich metropolis n the move, my thinking was that this would, at least, touch some sensitive space in the President’s heart. Surely, the oil could not have gone to his head that his ears are clogged and his vision blurred….
Guyanese are now so despairing and so desperate that they are seeking out scapegoats and bogeymen far from Guyana. Because no answers have been forthcoming from the Office of the President, or anywhere else in the government, shorthanded and resourceful citizens are now blaming the local cost-of-living condition on the war in Ukraine. If not blaming, then as I read their responses to SN’s questions, some of them are offering Ukraine and the ongoing special military operations as an excuse for our plight here. While there is some connection, I am still looking at the steepening prices of plantains and sweet potatoes, and other items in that ‘ground provisions’ family. The price curve is one that is not flattening out, but breaking into new territory almost daily. I am thinking of the cost of fertilizers as a definite culprit, maybe. But in this uninterrupted fashion, and weekly going its own way? I have heard of some cross finger-pointing at ‘middlemen’ and their expensive antics with prices, and how they are making different kind of men and women out of all of us. The problem is that Guyanese who went veggie, and now can’t afford it, cannot look in the direction of fish. Same story, same bottom line: too pricey, and that is if any of the species of marine life are still making their way to the marketplace.
Another rationale offered by tearing-their-hair-out of their heads Guyanese is that rising prices is now a worldwide trouble. From COVID-19 to cost, we seem to be hobbling from one crisis to another. Or, it could be that hard-pressed Guyanese have given up on the Government of Guyana, and soothing themselves that they are alone in the boat that could now be properly christened SS Cost of Living. Save our drowning souls sounds just about right, and what I also interpret with that fallback crutch is that misery loves company. Is nah wee alone so we might as well band wee belly and carry on as best as we can, all circumstances duly considered. Though I sense that people are giving the government a wide berth, I also think that their cries embed something else, as in why even waste time and go there, since dem banna dem in even care’. Or, to say another way, it is the equivalent of why look for relief from government, since that is flogging a sick horse.
The best response in Scene 17 of SN’s C-o-L series, however, came for a youngster, who exists on that rarest of rare plateaus: cost of living, what cost of living, comrades? God bless that fine young fella. He lives with his muddah. It is best that her wails of price pains be best left out, so that all are spared further torments.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
