Walton-Desir Condemns State’s “Blame-Shift Economics” on Public Transit Fares Amid Rising Fuel Costs
By | Marvin Cato | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) Leader and Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir has issued a strong critique of the government’s refusal to engage public transportation operators, accusing the executive of using heavy-handed police enforcement rather than dialogue to manage rising fuel costs and subsequent fare hikes.
Speaking over the weekend during an analytical interview on a prominent regional Caribbean media podcast, the opposition legislator argued that the administration’s current economic policies are directly contributing to the daily financial strain experienced by working-class families across the country.
The Breakdown of State Excise Tax Mitigations
The ongoing dispute stems from a steady climb in retail fuel prices across local service stations, a trend driven by severe logistical gridlock in the global oil market. While the state previously intervened by slashing the internal excise tax on petroleum products to zero, Walton-Desir asserted that this mechanism has ceased to provide meaningful relief to everyday consumers.
“The government’s approach is simply to go on television and tell Guyanese that they have done everything that they can do,” Walton-Desir stated during the broadcast. She argued that when the state reduces these fuel taxes, the financial savings are captured and retained by corporate gas station owners rather than being passed down to the pumps. “Once there is an aggressive global shift in oil prices, retailers maintain their margins and still raise the retail price, leaving the ordinary man to absorb the shock.”
The FGM leader heavily criticized what she termed the administration’s “blame-shift economics,” noting that the executive expects minibus drivers and independent truckers to absorb rising operational overheads and cut their personal profit margins without the state ever conducting a formal assessment of their actual livelihood figures.
Heavy-Handed Enforcement vs. Stakeholder Dialogue
Instead of establishing a structured, multi-sector task force to address the transit crisis, Walton-Desir accused the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of doubling down on regulatory mandates. She pointed out that the administration is actively using the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to clamp down on operators who adjust their tariffs, a strategy she described as unsustainable.
“Instead of calling in the minibus associations and the truckers associations to sit at the table as legitimate stakeholders and ask, ‘How do we solve this problem together?’ the government has refused to budge,” the MP asserted. “Their actual posture to transport workers is essentially: ‘We have done all that we can do, you have to cut your profits and suck it up.’“
The Dichotomy Between Official Mandates and Reality
Despite rigid state declarations insisting that transport fares remain legally capped across all routes, field reports from key commercial zones confirm that operators are actively setting prices based on market realities rather than executive orders:
| Public Transportation Route / Service | Official Regulated Fare | Actual Street-Level Market Price |
| Parika to Supenaam Speedboat Transit | $1,300 GYD | $1,500 GYD |
| Route 42 Minibus (Stabroek to Grove) | $140 GYD | $200 GYD |
Walton-Desir concluded by stating that resolving the existential threat of inflation requires a collaborative approach that insulates vulnerable citizens from global supply shocks. She called on the government to immediately suspend its punitive enforcement campaigns and bring transportation associations to the bargaining table to hammer out an equitable, state-subsidized framework before the upcoming legislative session on June 5.
