President’s response & public discourse decline

Dear Editor,

When one examines the ongoing debate regarding recent comments made by President Irfaan Ali in response to a question about the rising cost of living^[1], it becomes painfully obvious that public discourse in Guyana continues to lose nuance, context and analytical depth at an alarming rate.

This is what the President was asked by Demerara Waves journalist Denis Chabrol at his August 18 press conference: “What more can government do to assist with the rising cost of living?”^[2]

President Ali’s response was multipronged, touching on high energy costs, imported inflation, and the main point of contention, a change in consumer behaviour.

The President pointed to three observable changes in consumer behaviour: first, that more Guyanese are choosing to shop at supermarkets as opposed to farmers’ markets; second, that more Guyanese are now eating out more frequently; and third, that there is a change in diet, a claim supported by consumption data.

These were his words: “But, we have also changed our eating pattern in the country, and that is something we [the government] have to address. More persons today are shopping in the supermarket than were shopping in the supermarket four years ago. So that’s a cultural issue that has come upon us [the government] 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.”

What followed was a coordinated campaign, by public personalities supported by sections of the media, to deliberately misconstrue those words to suggest that Guyanese were ‘living above their means’ by shopping at supermarkets and eating out often.

Kaieteur News, for example, in its August 21, 2026 edition, misquoted the President in its headline, which read: ‘Change your eating habits’ – Pres. Ali blames citizens’ lifestyle for rising cost of living.^[3]

At no point did the President say, explicitly or implicitly, that Guyanese ought to change their buying or eating habits as a measure to reduce cost of living. But social media provided fertile ground for this idea to germinate and proliferate.

Even Red Thread, in an August 24 statement, jumped at the opportunity to rebuke the President for telling Guyanese, “where to shop” and, ironically, urging the Head of State to “first get his facts right”.^[4]

What was lost upon Red Thread and those who participated in the spreading of misinformation was the President’s commitment to having his government – and not consumers – “address” the issue of higher cost which is a consequence of changes in consumer behaviour.

This involves government redesigning aspects of the choice environment so that affordable options become more accessible without dictating what consumers must choose. How do we know this? Because the President said so in his response to the journalist:

“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 dollars, but when it gets to the [retail] market it’s 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.”

This proposed policy intervention in the market, if pursued, would not be an attempt to reverse consumer behaviour; but rather to redesign the choice environment within which those behaviours have emerged to make more affordable alternatives more accessible and attractive.

The President’s observation of the changes in consumer behaviour was therefore diagnostic to inform policymaking. He was simply saying that the way Guyanese buy and consume food has changed over the last four years and this change has implications for cost of living, which is why his government must examine and address it by intervening in the market to bring relief to citizens.

That in the age of technological and intellectual advancement this simple point was lost on so many is of profound concern.

References

1. Cost of living crisis needs “multidimensional” response – Pres Ali – Department of Public Information, Guyana — dpi.gov.gy ↩
2. Permanent farmers markets to cut cost of living, cash grants are not the ... — demerarawaves.com ↩
3. 'Change your eating habits' - Pres. Ali blames citizens lifestyle for ... — kaieteurnewsonline.com ↩
4. The President's response & the intellectual decline of ... — kaieteurnewsonline.com ↩