Opposition $200,000 cash grant proposal commendable

Mar 26, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

I must commend the opposition for thinking of the plight of Guyanese, especially heavily burdened ones and introducing something to ease their pain (“Opposition tables motion for $200,000 quarterly cash grant to cushion rising cost of living” KN March 15). The cost of living is killing poor Guyanese, which is what makes this opposition motion timely and meaningful. I like the sound of it, but I disagree with it.

Editor, I like the feel of it on the fingers, the sweetly sighing rustle of US$1000 in hand every three months. But I recoil from it. Though I wholeheartedly agree with any call for some form and level of urgent relief for struggling citizens, I shrink from almost doubling the minimum wage on a monthly basis right off the bat. When such policy and practice become the norm, then expectations are stirred, and there is no capping them anymore; and while I appreciate as much as the next man what is unwittingly fostered, I leave that alone today. Considering the weight of price circumstances, I understand fully, though not nearly as much as the man-in-the-street Guyanese, the ferocious effects of rapidly and broadly rising price pressures. I see it, I hear it, and I live amidst it.

Something must be done, but that is too much of a plunge, too much from the inception. I can agree with a cash boost of $20,000 monthly using the same age and family criterion that the opposition employed; but not $200,000 quarterly. We could start an ugly spiral from which there would be difficulty reversing course.

The PPP Government (forget the ‘C’-doesn’t mean a damn thing) has already been splurging numerous billions on pet projects, public works projects, and projects that have no basis, and all at once. Of course, I understand that this is one of the mechanisms by which its leaders fix themselves and their insiders handsomely. Now to attach to that weighty bill, the equivalent of more than three quarters of a million dollars annually for those over 18 years old would represent more than reckless spending habits. It would be the equivalent of sharing out money like drunken sailors on shore leave, with mostly little return for benevolence extended. Though Guyanese need immediate help, they also know about hardship and thrift and struggle, and they know how to get by in the face of those. I am all for giving a helping hand with cash inside, but not so much and so often. I come back to that $20,000 per month stipend (COLA), call it whatever pleases. I could be persuaded to do as high as $30,000 a month, but no more.

The simple reason is that we can’t afford it when the sum of overall spending is concerned. We could end up chasing the wind when we unleash economic forces that boomerang right back in our faces to chop off our heads. I have refrained from delving into sophisticated economics concepts, but they do have bases in reality. There is that dreaded ‘I’ word, which introduces a situation of continually chasing our tails and trying to catch up with elusive equity. To conclude, my position is that ordinary Guyanese must benefit from their oil wealth, and not just family, cronies, and private sector friends of PPP leaders. There is all this runaway spending, but it is highly skewed towards the already rich, the presently prospering. I hear the opposition and I call on the government, find a balance. Give a little something to poorer Guyanese, while richer ones flourish as usual, definitely too much today.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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