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Guyanese want services but do not wish to pay for them

Dec 11, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – I do not know whether it is true that one commercial bank in Guyana charges a fee for encashing a cheque issued by them to a non-account holder. But I do not see why anyone would complain about the bank doing so.

As someone said in a blog, banks are service providers. They have overheads and other expenses and why should they therefore not charge a fee to someone who is not an account holder with them.

If this country is going to modernize, things have to change and change rapidly. This mentality about people not wanting or complaining about having to pay for services will get us nowhere.

There are no free lunches under a neo-liberal economy. Everything has a cost attached to it and people have to begin to appreciate that they have to pay for the services that are provided to them.

We live in a country where many persons are reluctant to pay the economic cost of services. Yet, public servants demand higher wages claiming that the cost of living is high, and businesses demand payment for the services they provide.

But should the Government increase water rates of electricity tariffs, there will be a big hue and cry. The majority of consumers do no pay the economic cost for water and electricity. But should the Government not subsidize the provision of these services there will be unrest and protests.

The public is fond of bemoaning the garbage in the city. But find out what rates and taxes the average homeowner pays and these are not sufficient to provide even sanitation services, much less for drainage and road repairs and the other municipal services that are provided.

Successive Governments of Guyana are of the view that asking citizens to pay an economic rate for municipal services will make them highly unpopular. But this is a self-defeating position because it is failure to charge economic rents which results in the poor quality of services by local authorities. And it is poor quality and absent of services that make people dislike governments. On the other hand, when Governments move towards increasing fees, charges and taxes to cover the economic cost of a service, the public is outraged.

It is a chicken and egg situation. If the Government increases rate and taxes, it loses support. And if because of the failure to increases these rates and taxes, the Government cannot provide certain services, they also lose support.

At present, the local authorities are handicapped because they lack the resources to undertake the works which they are required to undertake. They have become reliant on Government subventions but this cannot go far enough. But if these local authorities were allowed to charge realistic rates and taxes, they would not have to depend on government’s subventions and they would be in a position to provide a better service to citizens. But paradoxically, the very citizens who want better services do not want to pay for these services. Guyanese want to live like Capitalists but want the Government to behave like Socialists and subsidize the costs of services.

At present there is a thought-provoking situation that took place recently. It is absolutely absurd. Speedboat Operators plying the Vreed-en-Hoop route went on strike demanding a $20 increase in fares for the river crossing.

But what we have is a situation in which private sector operators want increase in fares. They may have a right to increase the fares. But they know that if they do so, their customers will not be pleased, so what they are hoping to do is to gain Government approval for the very hike which they wish to impose. Rational Request or Not?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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