Food prices are too high — Walwyn
Government officials have been accused of taking extravagant first-class trips and racking up frequent flyer miles on the backs of taxpayers, even as residents continue to struggle with skyrocketing food prices.
Sixth District Representative Myron Walwyn recently confronted Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley in the House of Assembly (HOA) over the cost of living in the territory, insisting that food prices are too exorbitant.
“Do you understand the prices when you go in the supermarket?” Walwyn asked. “Something is up. You have to look to see what’s going on. Food is becoming more and more expensive in this place. The prices are ridiculous and nobody can give an explanation as to why the prices are so high.”
Walwyn argued that prices for identical items in different supermarkets are like ‘night and day’ and questioned whether officials need to meet with suppliers to determine what could be done to ensure prices are reduced.
“I suspect the government is part of the problem with their taxes and various policies,” he said. “Let’s have a conversation and see how we can make things easier on the pockets of the country’s people.”
Meanwhile, Walwyn slammed government officials for frequently being absent from the territory and HOA sittings. He questioned why they could find money for expensive flights but not for funding maintenance programmes.
“Where are they getting the money from?” Walwyn asked. “Because if things are so tight—that the unemployed people in this country, you can’t put some money there to get them some work to clean up the place. It ain’t free money you’re giving them because the place needs cleaning up; the place is a mess. The place is a royal mess. And you can’t put some money there to help the unemployed people?”
“When you ask a question, ‘Well, what happened to this one (government legisltor)?’ Them gone China. When you ask ‘What happened to this one?’ They gone Hong Kong. ‘Where this one is? I ain’t see her in a while.’ She gone Canada,” Walwyn said. “They’re always gone somewhere, and the people are hurting.”
He urged the government to reduce some of its travel and find money for programmes such as the RATED programme, which helps find temporary jobs for unemployed people and offers training opportunities to others.
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LORNA CROSSED THE FLOOR AND MADE A MUCK
it has nothing to do with the lady , your mind is in a muck , so just excuse yourself QUIETLY , and get it CLEANED
you got to point at the cuban mouth champ / all mow so we would of been way ahead if he had really loved the people who had put their trust in him to
make AGRICULTURE a priority which is very ESSENTIAL FOR ANY
COUNTRY , BUT WE ALL KNOW WHERE HIS HEAD WAS , AND THIS IS WHY WE IS WHERE WE ARE TODAY.
TODAY
The COI put an end to the petty contract system and Myron knows that. And these prices were too high from since the NDP was in and they removed the import tax or port fees for the supermarkets (I can’t remember which one exactly) & that didn’t do anything for the prices then either.
It is low hanging fruit that Myron picked but still he made his point. And we the people are being taken advantage of here by Banks and Supermarkets. If you don’t plant a little bit of this and that and go fish every now and then you can’t survive here.
There is too much political bickering and not enough working on solutions imo
You does shop?
Food prices gone up and food quality went all the way down. Not even eggs taste good these days. Get that GMO rubbish out of here!
@ double whammy:
We don’t have a solid National Food Safety Agency or Standards in place. The UK & EU have fought to keep American GMO foods out of their food supply. Recently in one of their national papers they ran an article about USA imported foods and candies that have known carcinogenic substances in them. Imagine Skittles, Post cereals all have industrial chemicals in them!
Our government leaders are clueless about the tasks they have and are simply here to enrich themselves personally so when the time comes; they can afford the best off-island medical treatments money can buy!
We are doomed if we continue down this path of unsustainable growth and lack of enforceable policies that sholdj e thee to PROTECT the citizens of the BVI. The range of foods imported from the USA is killing us slowly but surely. Food for thought.
Prices are so expensive I have stopped buying meat and chicken, bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, tea, cereals, any candy or chocolate. Good news is I’m a losing weight.
Did he shop for the best prices when he was doing the million dollar wall for ESHS? Were you shopping fAmO?
Must there always be a moo moo interfering in intelligent discussions? This is a moo moo free zone so please move over to the yellow site.
It may surprise you Mr Walwyn but competition leads to price decreases. The BVI is the most protectionist place in the world outside North Korea. That is why prices don’t fall. It’s not a competitive market.
But also the policies are short sighted .When the middle to lower earners spend a high % of total income on food and housing there is little disposable income for much else . It benefits a small % of the poulation. However when housing and food is low to moderate there is a multipler impact on the economy seeing a increase across multiple sectors .Simply put a rising tide lifts all boats. Imagine the $ we are losing to STT/PR needlessly.
Bobbys for the win!!!
Bobby’s is the real “People’s Store”. Every time you to the green one, you leave feeling like you were robbed at gunpoint. The prices in that place are crazy. Pure wickedness. Something is wrong with that whole family. When NHI came in, the other brother almost put it into bankruptcy. He almost single-handedly sent the cost of medical care and medicine through the roof. That is a mafia situation right there. Predators.
Not one single comment has expoused any punitive actions against the robbers and thieves masquarading. as honest business people, wherein they are not.
A people’s Union is needed in this territory yesterday.
When people will stop blaming government for everything and realize it is greed of many grocery stores. Government can remove all taxes and duties but the store will still make significant profit. What they need is a government agency regulating the prices of goods else nothing with change.
But that’s exactly what we want the government to do. Regulate that d*mn prices. That’s is why we blaming than bcuz they refuse to do it and kick around the Bush
Stay away from American foods they’ll all make you fat. American food is so unhealthy it’s sad.
And the food from here is healthier?
BVI politicians have some many fingers in different pies they are inured from the cost of food (or anything else for that matter as evidenced by their continued execrable behaviour.
This is one issues I want the government to address cause the price of food is ridiculous!!! Some of the times as a parent I’m literally scared to go shop cause I’m not financially strong and I have kids to feed!!! It depresses!!! Fix them prices especially R*!!!