The Dickon Mitchell-led Congress administration has responded to the cries of many Grenadians for some kind of relief especially in the face of rising electricity rates to homeowners due to the tensions in the Middle East between Iran, the United States and Israel.
Late Marxist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop often told Grenadians that when the U.S sneezes, countries like Grenada and others in the Eastern Caribbean will catch the cold.
The point is that things that are happening in the United States will have some kind of impact on us in this part of the world.
Recent polls conducted by reputable pollsters in America show that most of the people up there are complaining about the rising cost of living and the frequent hikes in gas prices due to the conflict in the Middle East.
In what is called the battleground States in the U.S, a poll that was conducted revealed 35% of the people indicated that their personal financial situation has gotten worse over the past few months compared to just 15% who say it is better now than a few months ago.
For those who say their personal financial situation is worse off, they cite the cost of living and inflation as the main reasons (58%) followed by gas and grocery prices (20% and 18%, respectively).
The areas in which rising costs have been felt most include:
- 87% say grocery costs are going up.
- 86% say utilities are going up and only 2% say the cost is going down.
- 84% say gasoline costs are going up.
The Battleground constituents blame high gas prices on the war in Iran (40%) and Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress (28%).
No Grenadian should expect the cost of food items in local supermarkets to be going downwards when the opposite is happening in the United States and other major Western industrialised nations.
The Caribbean is not self-sufficient in food as we continue to engage in the mantra of having a passion for foreign food and do not understand the need to “eat what we grow.”
The lines continue to be long at many fast food outlets.
The government has responded to the current situation by taking measures to create an impact on the Cost of Living by addressing the nightmare for many homeowners – the ever rising cost of electricity from Grenlec.
Some electricity consumers have reported that their monthly bill moved from $300.00 to over $600.00.
The former New National Party (NNP) government of Keith Mitchell had the foresight to pass legislation to encourage Grenadians to look at Solar power as an alternative to the fossil fuel power generated by Grenlec.
It is unfortunate that many of our people have been rather slow in taking advantage of the 100% duty-free concessions given by the State to persons importing items to produce solar power at their homes and businesses.
The high cost of electricity could also be addressed by Grenlec which needs to find the ways and means to move more rapidly in the generation of power from natural elements like the Sun, Win and even Ocean currents.
The government also needs to move more quickly in putting improved measures in place to protect homeowners from unscrupulous Solar Installers who engage in daylight theft and robbery against unsuspecting homeowners who lack knowledge and understanding about the generation of electricity through the means of Solar.
The Technocrats in the Ministry of Climate Resilience need to “get on the ball” along with the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to put meaningful punitive measures in place to deal with the Quacks in the industry.
In addition, the country needs to address the bottlenecks that are preventing investors from putting down more and more solar farms in order to take advantage of our climatic conditions, especially the use of the Sun.
THE NEW TODAY will not be surprised if the opponents of the current Congress administration would take the position that more could be done to address the increasing Cost of Living on the island.
It comes down to the old saying: Those in the kitchen feels “the heat better than those on the outside” who have no appreciation of what is really happening.
The running of the country is no easy thing.
As Keith Mitchell, the longstanding leader of the NNP often said when in office and from his years of experience, it is much easier to win an election than to run the government and country.
The role of any government should be to ease up on the burden on the pockets of citizens, especially the less fortunate who lack the financial capacity to meet the daily needs of their families.