Rising… prices

While your Eyewitness doesn’t do the family shopping, he gets his ears full by the Missus on the skyrocketing prices in the markets and SUPERmarkets – with the not too thinly veiled subtext that he oughta be bringing home bigger bucks!! Now, her kvetching about food prices – like those by lots of other Guyanese – deserves a serious response. All families, after all, buy groceries with their earnings, not with announcements about economic growth!! But we’ve gotta be fair – since we live in an interconnected world, any explanation that puts every increase down to Government spending or local profiteering leaves out what’s happening internationally!!
Reports abound of rising inputs into food costs all across the globe – for instance, wheat prices have climbed more than 30 per cent this year, while freight charges on some major international routes have increased by about 50 per cent!! The war in the Middle East has disrupted grain shipments and fertiliser supplies – while drought threatens harvests, and those pressures could persist into 2027!! Those freight figure increases have already been addressed by the Govt that doesn’t include them in duty calculations!
The implication for us in Mudland should be quite straightforward – if not quite appreciated!! Imported food is becoming dearer before it reaches our wharves!! And let’s be honest, nowadays we’ve all increased our dining on foreign foods tremendously!! Salmon, anyone??!! Local production also offers only PARTIAL protection when farmers depend on imported fertiliser, machinery, and other inputs!! Oil wealth gives us resources to respond – it doesn’t give us command over the world’s harvests!!
That international context strengthens the case against simplistic political accusations that are hurled against the Government!! While it doesn’t establish how much of our food inflation comes from abroad nor excuse every increase at Bourda or Stabroek Market, the Govt bureaucrats should be issuing local evidence on import costs, farm prices, transport charges and retail margins!! At least we would know where the pressure’s coming from!!
For short-term relief on local foods, the Government’s institutionalising farmers’ markets across our fair land – and should continue expanding these!!  For the longer term, it’s already pumping serious funds into agricultural development that prioritise reliable drainage, irrigation, storage and transport – the practical things that get more food to consumers at lower cost!! While we’re not getting instant relief, the Government doesn’t have a magic wand!!
Now announcements of modest inflation figures aren’t much comfort to the Missus whose grocery bill keeps climbing – since lower inflation means prices rise less quickly, not that yesterday’s prices have returned!!
While we cannot wish away overseas droughts etc – the Government’s gotta keep on using our oil earnings to make households less vulnerable to the next one!!
And we can return to growing greens in our backyards!!

…school bullying
School bullying’s always been with us – children can be rather feral, innit?? UNICEF’s 2010 survey found some 38 per cent of students aged 13–15 reported being bullied during the preceding month!! But nowadays, social media magnifies the damage when humiliation can reach hundreds of classmates instantly, and filming and sharing attacks can give aggressors attention and status!! Victims consequently find little escape after school.
But we’ve all got a part to play since kids also learn from adults!! Where threats, physical punishment, and public humiliation are accepted ways of exercising authority, kids may conclude that power entitles them to dominate others!! Bullying can earn them approval, while frightened witnesses remain silent!!
The solution, then, requires more than demanding tougher discipline or teaching moral values!! As Minister Parag just outlined, schools need confidential reporting, prompt investigations, consistent consequences, counselling, and closer supervision during breaks and dismissal!! Parents must reinforce respectful behaviour and take complaints seriously.
Ultimately, bullying flourishes when aggression brings rewards and victims can’t trust adults to protect them.

…oil reserves
Exxon just dropped a teaser that AI has enabled them to analyse earlier seismic data much more thoroughly – and determined there are some five additional prospects in the Stabroek Block – with one development, imminent!!
Drill, baby, drill!!