Dear Editor,
The claim being circulated on social media that President Dr. Irfaan Ali responded to concerns about the cost of living by telling Guyanese to stop eating out and cook at home is false and deliberately misleading.
The cost of living is a serious issue affecting families across Guyana. It should not be trivialised by selectively extracting a few words from a much broader response and presenting them as something the President neither said nor instructed citizens to do.
The President was responding to a direct question from journalist Denis Chabrol: “What more can government do to assist with the rising cost of living?”
His answer addressed several factors affecting household expenditure and consumer prices — changing shopping and eating patterns, supermarket overheads, retailer markups, the difference between farm-gate and retail prices, and the possibility of establishing permanent farmers’ markets to connect producers directly with consumers.
Consumer behaviour is entirely relevant to any serious discussion about the cost of living. Where people shop, what they purchase and how they consume food can affect what a household ultimately spends.
The same plantain, cassava or sweet potato purchased directly from a farmer or at a traditional market can cost less than when sold in a supermarket carrying expenses for rent, electricity, air conditioning, staffing and other overheads. Likewise, eating at a restaurant involves paying not only for food but for preparation, labour, utilities, rent, service and other business costs.
Pointing out these economic realities is not telling people how to live. Nor is it blaming consumers for the cost of living. It is recognising that changes in consumption and shopping patterns can affect household expenditure and must therefore form part of any comprehensive examination of cost-of-living pressures.
For those who continue to deliberately misrepresent what was said, the relevant portion of the exchange should be placed on the record.
Denis Chabrol: “What more can government do to assist with the rising cost of living?”
President Ali: “But, we have also changed our eating pattern in the country and that is something we [government] have to address. More persons today are shopping in the supermarket than were shopping in the supermarket four years ago. If you look at the margins in the supermarket, you will see that the margins are far different than the margins in the normal [farmers’] market. So that’s a cultural issue that has come upon us that needs to be addressed.
“The same person who was buying sweet potato and cassava and plantain in the market are now buying it in the supermarket; and they [the supermarkets] have a whole different margin of profit because of course they have higher overheads – the AC and shopping in that environment, sometimes rental and so on – so that is another issue, the changing shopping pattern, the changing eating pattern.
“You know, even you now I see eating out a lot more than before, Chabrol. So, people are eating out more than they were eating out four years ago. The average family is visiting a restaurant more than they were doing four years ago. That is also an issue. More people are cooking less at home than they were cooking four years ago. So that’s another issue that we [government] have to address. I’m saying things that we have to address.
“And then of course we have the issue of the exorbitant profit lines that the retailers are charging, or the add on. So the farmers, when you go to the wholesale market, the farmers are saying look we’re selling plantain at X dollar, but when it gets to the market its 10X.
“So, we [government] may need to look at the creation of farmers’ markets across the country, as a permanent part of our buying ecosystem. So that farmers have direct access to the market.”
That is the exchange. Nowhere did the President tell Guyanese to stop eating out. Nowhere did he instruct families to cook more at home as the Government’s solution to the cost of living.
In fact, the opposite is clear from his words. On more than one occasion, he said these were issues “we [government] have to address.” He then specifically identified high retail markups as another problem and proposed a possible Government intervention — permanent farmers’ markets that could give farmers direct access to consumers and reduce the layers between producers and the prices paid by households.
It is particularly telling that some of those circulating the “stop eating out” narrative leave out these parts of the response. Removing the discussion about supermarket margins, retailer markups and farmers’ markets makes it easier to manufacture an entirely different meaning from what was actually said.
There is nothing wrong with robust criticism of the Government over the cost of living. Guyanese have every right to demand answers and expect policies that protect their purchasing power. But criticism must be grounded in facts.
The President’s comments can be debated. His policies can be scrutinised. What should not be acceptable is deliberately rewriting his words and then attacking him for something he never said.
The verbatim transcript speaks for itself.
Yours faithfully,
Malcolm G.A. Braithwaite