High cost of living and blackouts

Dec 13, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
As we fast approach Christmas, I observed a constant rise in food prices for some basic commodities and the increase of blackouts.
Sometimes, I would shop for groceries when my wife won’t have the time to do so. I discovered that actually every single food items is on a rapid increase everyday, while the increase in our salaries is just a mere 5 per cent Government workers are barely making ends meet, while cane cutters are exploited daily and the long dismal list in our dog eat dog economy continues to make life difficult for the poor class of people.
Rice that is produced here that was selling for $450-500 per gallon is now selling at $750-800 per gallon in some places. I used to buy one bag of fine rice for $2,000, now that is selling for $3,000 per bag. A bag of starter chicken feed that was selling at $4,300 is now selling in the shops for $5,200. A pound of sugar that was selling for $60-70 is now selling for $100-120 per pound. These basic food items are produced and exported daily, yet the poor class of people cannot afford to buy enough rice and sugar because their home and other bills re far more than what they are earning.
More than half of our population earns less than US$10 per day, that’s G$2000. Food items such as garlic, onion, paste, split peas have now become a luxury for the poor class of people. My wife told me recently that she bought a pound of garlic for $400 that was selling for $180. Sometimes, I wonder if some of our shop owners are just robbing and exploiting our poor class of people. Then we have to pay 16% VAT on actually everything we purchase, and our salaries are increased by 5%.
Every dollar we now earned is taxed about 55% when I worked out the other taxes and the killer VAT.
While our people are struggling to put food on their tables, our politicians are driving the most expensive Prado’s and Tundras and they are building some of the most modernized houses at the expense of taxpayers’ money. I personally observed some of our political leaders eating at some of the most expensive hotels, where their bills are paid by the state.
How can we still live in blackouts and pay light bills that are more than half our salaries? It’s not surprising that bribery and corruption are the order of the day, because our present administration after 18 years in office still cannot correct our electricity problems. Everyday hundreds are gathered at GPL offices to query huge light bills. Why is that so? Is it because of bad administration?
As Christians celebrate Christmas more and more church services are being held in our country in various churches. How sad it is in the midst of prayer and worship we are hit by a sudden blackout with foreign guests in our midst. We recently hosted a conference with lots of foreign delegates and diplomats but no blackout was on during those conferences.
Why is it that our hypocritical administrators don’t deal with this blackout in Guyana once and for all? They are dealing with it for foreign diplomats, but it’s not happening for the Guyanese people.
We can no longer fool the world. We must accept one final fact that our political leaders both past and present failed us after 44 years of independence. No wonder the increase in crime is on the rise everyday.
We recently saw more than 1,400 students graduate from the University of Guyana, but most of them will leave Guyana in search of jobs because our job market have no place for them. I am personally aware of many graduates and intellectuals selling on the paves in the streets.
Even some cane cutters have 8-10 GCE and CXC O’ Levels. Our present administration failed to take Guyana forward into the 21st Century. Too many qualified Guyanese are migrating because of better wages and living conditions.
In this day and age, I can see water only three times per week for a few hours; then when all the residents start to pump water the lines are drained. Why are they pumping water? It’s because the water coming through the pipelines cannot fill up a bucket one foot high. Most days when the water is coming from GWI we are faced with a blackout thus the water will stop coming suddenly.
Yet many of our Ministers in Government are saying we are just like many of our Caribbean neighbours. Such propaganda is just pure political brainwashing. We are left behind in the Caribbean and the Western Hemisphere.
Our public hospitals are no good; patients are dying everyday from basic illnesses. The recent deaths of many young mothers give us a clear picture of the amount of square pegs in round holes in our medical profession.
Sudden blackouts at our medical institutions are stepping stone to failure, thus the end result is death to patients.
What we need in Guyana is a God fearing leadership, who has a vision to take Guyana forward. We must first deal with wages and salaries; our present economy will demand wages for public servants at about $6,000 per day if we will survive the prophecy in the last days that has taken a grip on Guyana.
We must create more jobs for the educated and uneducated. We must provide better housing that’s cheaper and more durable. We must provide a better and greater education so that every citizen must at least be literate. We have produced more dunces in Guyana over the past 40 years – thanks to free education and poor governance.
Guyana needs a leader who will have a heart for the people; a leader who will love his people to achieve greater goals in life to live and build Guyana. We need a clean government, free from corruption.
We need better drainage and irrigation to avoid flooding from just two hours of severe rains. We need a higher pension for the old people so that they can survive until death.
What we need is freedom from blackouts so that I can greet you and say ‘’Happy Christmas’’ and be able to see your face. Finally, we need a new government with a greater vision to develop Guyana; too long we have voted for failures.
Rev. Gideon Cecil

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