Census results – a jumbee in a nudist colony

Jan 24, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – Guyanese had clamored loudly for the long-delayed census results to be published. They got something called the preliminary report of the Guyana National Population and Housing Census 2022. Two thoughts surfaced. If this is the preliminary report, and it’s so shaky, it may be better for the final is left to slumber. Then, there is that maxim: be careful what is asked for; because Guyanese asked (guilty here), and look what they got.

If this is the best that the Bureau of Statistics (BoS) can deliver, after the three years plus of overtime, it would have been better if it had recruited some of those creative statistical masters that spread PPP Govt propaganda. I am sure they would have put a better gloss on the narrative section of the BoS product; perhaps tweaked some of the numbers more advantageously. The BoS reports that there were 12,654 Venezuelans in Guyana as of 2022. Either the statistical people were driven to madness by the pile of numbers, or they think that Guyanese are mad.

One need not be acquainted with the alphabet, or any number past zero, to know that total about Venezuelans here is either a joke or a game, or both. Scattered sections of Georgetown alone may hold more than 12,654 Venezuelans, given unconfirmed estimates of how many of these neighbors are around. Even if a stretch, and somewhat less than Georgetown actually has, 12,654 Venezuelans present is as far from the true number, as Guyana is from Antarctica. I think that this is one issue on which the likes of the PPP Govt’s Dr. Ashni Singh would be in agreement with me. There really is no space for objection. In fairness to the BoS, it reported that there was difficulty in counting undocumented migrants, of which Venezuelans would have been the majority, and for obvious reasons. Fear and shrinking from interaction with officials.

So, how many Venezuelans are here? What is the number other than 12,654, one that is closer to their total presence in Guyana? Is it four or six or eight times (or more) than the 12,654-number presented to Guyanese? Twice as much doesn’t cut it, is too tough to swallow. I could settle for somewhere between 65-75% of the true figure as satisfactory. But nothing of the sort is in sight. I take this further: if the report about Venezuelans in Guyana is so skimpy and stretches belief, then how can other numbers in the 2022 preliminary report be relied upon, give comfort?

There is appreciation that the census closed off in 2022, and that this is 2025/26. Plus, conditions in Guyana’s northwestern neighbor intensified more sharply since then, with more pressures applied on that country. A flood of people fleeing hardship and harboring great fears about their safety could have found a place here, legally or illegally. What has been the impact of the government number and whatever the real number is on two crucial areas in Guyana? The first is housing; the second is wages.

Commonsense tells that rental are at a premium in Georgetown due to demand overwhelming supply. It also tells that scarce space at the lower end of the price range is now fiercely competed for by the native born and new neighbors. What Guyanese could barely manage to scrape to meet the demands of landlords may now not be enough to give them a roof over their heads. Due recognition is given to tents on ‘sea-dams’ and makeshift squatting areas occupied by desperate immigrants. In short, a rough situation got more unbearable.

Regarding wages, it is known that migrants the world over do not have the luxury of picking and choosing jobs, and naming their price. They take what they get, or they get out. The economics of the street is that raw and that brutal; that final, too. With Venezuelans willing to work longer and harder for less, Guyanese lacking skills find themselves fighting a losing battle. A migrant battling for survival and a place will grasp at minimum wage, and absorb exploitation, just to stay afloat. How they do so only they know, in an environment where prices are always rising, and can be so crushing.

I think that 12,654 Venezuelans in Guyana as of 2022 is way undercounted. It is a spirit operating right before the eyes, yet elusive to hold. But one with serious implications, without even addressing schools, healthcare, law and order, and national security.

(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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census, GHK Lall, jumbee, nudist colony

One thought on “Census results – a jumbee in a nudist colony”

Sue Colbert January 25, 2026 at 12:01 am

Correction, re: “SO” he (LGSB,) could be God over us!

*he did not “LIVE” According TO THE FINE PRINCIPLES of GOD’S WORD, IN THE BIBLE!

Galatians 6:7 IS REAL, but he did THINGS, his WAY, just as Frank Sinatra! 😢💔👎😡🤬

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