In ancient Roman society, there was a practice of holding parties for the poor. These parties, games and other grand spectacles were organized by the political leaders and were done to keep those who were impoverished from rioting. Another tactic to keep those who were poor in good spirits, was to provide ad hoc “goodwill” particularly through the provision of staple goods and money. So while inequality within Rome reigned supreme, there was nary an insurrection against its leaders.
Doing as the Romans do, Guyanese politicians have long favoured stop-gaps and entertainment over the sustained health and wellbeing of its citizens. This has led to a largely stagnant way of life for the vast majority of the population, while those who are privileged are able to move forward with very little resistance. More recently, we have been seeing growing distributions of one-off “relief” measures being provided by the government such as the COVID-19 cash grant that was to benefit every family across the country despite their socio-economic circumstances – a strategy that was predictably disastrous. It led to monies being unaccounted for and many families not benefitting from it.
Aside from the logistical issues, the sum really was a disrespectful one to give to families during a novel global pandemic, as many had lost significant earnings during that period. It would be good to know how they arrive at the sums they deem adequate as they continue to dole out stop-gaps to industries such as farming and fishing. Following the flooding brought on by the intense rains late 2021, farmers who were affected were provided with small relief grants. Last month I spoke to a farmer who had benefitted from this and she stated that the relief was no relief at all, as she only received one hundred thousand dollars, when her losses were in the millions. She stated farmers would have benefitted more from cost reduction in key items such as fertilizers, and accessible lines of credit.
A few days ago, President Irfaan Ali shared that the government will be providing a one-off grant of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to help fisherfolk “through their difficult times,” as the industry has been experiencing significant challenges. It would be great to know what the needs assessments undertaken by the government looks like so as to get some insight into their responses towards crises and surrounding inequalities, because it often seems lacking in any rhyme or reason. Cash grants can be immensely helpful, but even that should not be done in an ad hoc manner and needs to be bolstered by the existing needs of affected groups, the economic realities of the country, and sustained mechanisms to provide aid to those who need the support. The government seems to have absolutely no sustainable plan or policy to tackle the issues of income inequality, inflation against stalled payment scales and a multitude of others. There is no government policy that is seeking to address these things, with the sole strategy seemingly being to distract the people with one-off cash payments that realistically do not do much in our economy.
On the ground, you can often hear sayings akin to the fact that one cannot eat policy. And yeah, obviously. Progressive policy is not the end all of a society’s march towards enhanced equality, but it is a significant step. It is understood though that many do not see the necessity of it, and it does not help that there are several policies and laws in existence that are not implemented, at least not effectively. An example of this is seen in the 1996 Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act which made abortion legal in Guyana. 26 years later, lack of political will has resulted in this not being as widely implemented as it needs to, contributing towards continued back-alley abortions and other self-harm strategies that can often result in dangerous scarring and death. Government policies however provide a framework to work with, which is needed much more than the chaotic whimsical decisions that are being made.
The economy is in an upward spiral, but not all growth is good growth, and the realities of this have long started to be felt even more by those who already make a practice of pinching their dollars. The people need less one-off stop-gaps that do little more than offer the government a good PR cycle, and more sustainable supportive programmes and policies that centres their needs and the shifting economy.
