The rains are now intermittent. However, whenever there is a prolonged downpour there is flooding in many parts of the country. People know that whenever the rains are heavy the price rises astronomically in the marketplace. They say that the resultant flooding kills the plants thus making produce scarce. In other cases, they say that the rain knocks off the flowers thus reducing the crop. The result is that prices rise, sometimes so high that people refuse to buy certain items. The price of eddoes, for example, jumped by sixty percent. But what made me shiver was the price for bread.
Many years ago when bread was cilt cents a loaf I remember telling the Assistant Chief Information Officer at the Ministry of Information that one day I would be working for $1,000 per month. At the time the salary of an Information Officer was $250 per month. The year was 1973. The Assistant Chief Information Officer, the late Richard Linton Younge, said that when the salary reaches $1,000 per month bread would cost one dollar per loaf. That brought a laugh, a prolonged outburst of laughter. That price was unimaginable.
Bread did cost one dollar per loaf by the early 1980s. It then reached cilt dollars a loaf before the end of that decade. It is now $480 a loaf. If salaries had risen commensurate with the price of bread people would have been comfortable. Bread was not the only commodity that jumped to world record proportions. Every single food item did. But these days the prices rise but the salary is constant despite Guyana recording its highest budget ever—more than one trillion dollars.
The crowds in the marketplace have dwindled. The markets are no longer a haven for the poor shopper. The question arises. How are people living? The beggars are no longer the people who sit by the side of the road. Many are public servants.
The government is making a lot of noise about cash grants. Money intended to buy school supplies now goes into the pot. Parents simply say that when it is time for school they will think about that.
It is not by accident that younger children now turn to a life of crime. A police bulletin yesterday read, “𝐒𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐦
— 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓
Omali Medas, a 19-year-old labourer from Sophia was arrested about 00:30hrs yesterday after Police acted on information and intercepted a white Honda XR motorcycle (without Registration number or documents) between Regent and Wellington Streets, Georgetown. Police searched the motorcyclist and found a .32 Taurus pistol with a magazine in his pants crotch.
Medas was asked if he is the holder of a Firearm License, and he replied ‘no’. Medas was told of the offence committed, arrested, and escorted to the Brickdam Police Station, where the Firearm was marked and placed into a transparent evidence bag in his presence, then lodged with the Station Sergeant for safekeeping.” That is only one instance. There are constant reports of young robbers. Some have been shot.
Young girls are not exempt from the harsh realities of life. Many have been trafficked into the interior. Some work for little or nothing at the Chinese supermarkets. They are not invisible.
Those whose parents struggle to keep the family on the straight and narrow are at a disadvantage because of hungry stomachs and poor brain development.
Kopinang to get $199M Secondary School, promoting education access in Guyana’s hinterland, read a headline yesterday. The story continues, “Today, the Honourable Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, marked a pivotal moment in Guyana’s educational landscape by ceremoniously commencing the construction of the Kopinang Secondary School in Region Eight.”
The number of schools being built this year is mind boggling. These schools are being built even as teachers are protesting for better hisse and other conditions. Who will man these schools? Will the children be in a position to attend these schools?
The external examinations will highlight the plight of parents in Guyana. Again, the well-to-do will secure promising grades. The children of the poor will be hard pressed to match them.
Of course, there are those poor children who are determined to exit the life of poverty through education. This has always been the case over the years. However, they are in the minority.
There are books that teach children to drink lots of milk; that eggs are good, that pumpkin makes the eye bright. Few can say that milk is readily available for children of the poor. As for pumpkin—this is fetching such a price that no longer are the vendors buying large piles.
Then there was the report that Guyana is preparing to help those Caribbean countries affected by Hurricane Beryl. It must be a case of trying to look good in the eyes of the foreigner.
Floods are ravaging many communities but one is not hearing about a rush to aid those flood-hit communities.
Charity begins at home, goes an old saying. This seems not to be the case. Large sums are being spent on infrastructure and the recipients aren’t charitable people or people in need of Charity.
Numerous infrastructure projects have been announced. Large sums of money have been earmarked. Over the past two years many of these projects are either lying idle or abandoned. Something must be wrong.
We wonder why Guyana has only one Olympic bronze medal. And that came during an Olympics that saw many countries boycotting those Games. Other countries less endowed than Guyana are enjoying the rewards. Grenada, just hit by Hurricane Beryl won an Olympics gold medal through Kirani James. It also has a world rated javelin thrower.
Barbados, Trinidad, Suriname and St Lucia are producing top class athletes. Guyana through the struggle of some parents is producing great athletes. The government cannot accept the praise though one notices the parade when these successful athletes return home.
Jamaica is in a class of its own. These countries spend money on things they want to achieve. Perhaps Guyana is doing the same but the goals are different.