A PRESIDENT OF SMALL THINGS

Feb 13, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – When the PPP returned to power in 1992, there was an immediate reduction in the prices of a number of consumer items. This happened because the then president was a man who was concerned about the small man.
The problems he faced were formidable. This required him addressing the larger economic concerns but Cheddi never neglected the little things which matter to the average citizen.
Almost immediately upon his assuming office, there was a reduction in the price of flour and rice. Other prices also came down.
Cheddi Jagan then removed the means test for old age pensions. Prior to this, in order to qualify for an old age pension, you had to establish a need, and many persons who were indeed needy found themselves excluded by the administrative requirements. Cheddi Jagan decided that everyone aged 65 should qualify for a pension, whether they wanted it or not.
He was the one who also started the housing drive for low income families, and in support of this, he also implemented a number of measures aimed at keeping construction costs low. So he was a president that tended to the small man.
While he addressed the bigger problems, he never lost focus of the importance of the small things, the things that matter to the small man.
The economy then was in a poor state. Guyana was one of the most highly indebted poor nations in the world. The infrastructure was run down and tax collection was poor. Guyana has made the sacrifices over the years. The economy has been repaired and with the discovery of oil, our leaders are ready to think and act big.
As such, a number of mega projects are lined up. Some of these, such as the deep water habour and the Lethem/Brazil road, have been touted for a long time. But those mega projects matter little to the small man because the small man does not see the immediate benefits of such projects to him or her.
At present consumer prices have been rising. The consumers are feeling the squeeze. The measures which have been taken and which have been announced have not been impactful.
It would help if some ways can be found to look at specific consumer items – cooking oil, rice, flour, vegetables, poultry, toilet paper, tomato paste, and bread – along with cooking gas and kerosene to see whether these prices can be subsidised or kept low.
The concessions in the form of the payment of taxes on pre-pandemic freight costs, is also being applied to electronic items, imported furniture, imported beverages and luxury items.
Instead of offering subsidies in the form of duty remissions to the private sector, the better approach would be to focus more on basic consumables to see how these can be reduced.
Quite a large portion of the cost of food in Guyana is attributable to the hefty markups that are charged by middle men, those who buy from the farmers then resell to retail vendors. We have heard about a plan to establish farmer markets across Guyana. But nothing has been done so far.
President Ali should introduce some competition here and allow for small farmers to market their produce directly. The large farmers are not interested in this, but prices for consumers can be reduced if small farmers are encouraged through farmers’ markets to sell directly to consumers, thereby cutting out the middlemen who make the bulk of the profits from the same agricultural produce.
The second area is wages. The situation which now faces the incombent president is far different from what Cheddi Jagan faced in 1992, when there was very little money to spread. Yet the PPP still found a hefty increase to give to workers in its first Budget. Since then, and especially during the Presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo, the increases have been indexed to inflation rather than to a living wage.
At the minimum, a working-class president would want to ensure that within the three years Guyana is able to pay its lowest paid worker a living wage. This means that a living wage has to be calculated, and this should be a priority.
A third area of focus should be the removal of the destitute off the streets. There have been too many starts and stops in this regard and all those presently sleeping on the streets should be encouraged to move to shelters where they can be provided with a hot meal and a soft mattress to sleep. This would be a good start to help those in need.
But the greatest area where the public would want change is in the harassment by traffic police. The Traffic police rank is the citizen’s worst nightmare and there is a great deal of corruption within the system, simply because the fines are so prohibitive that many motorists prefer to leave something for the cop than to fork out the large fines that are charged.
Technology needs to be the answer to speeding on the roadways. There are radars equipped with cameras that can record the speed of vehicles and this is the way to go, not to leave it to traffic cops. If there is anything that the public would want the new administration to deal with immediately, it is the harassment that takes place on our roadways and which really needs to be brought to an end.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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