South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The government has delivered over 4,000 sacks of subsidized food in Aweil town of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State in a bid to mitigate rising food prices.
Bol Akuar Gamar, State Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports said that food items that arrived in Aweil on Thursday would be sold at lower prices to alleviate the high cost of living amid the prevailing economic hardship.
“We have today received the first shipment of food items and they are maize flour, rice and they arrived today safely. Most of the vehicles arrived and some of them got stranded on the way because roads have become impassable due to rain,” Akuar told journalists on Thursday in Aweil town.
Akuar said that some of the food will be distributed free of charge to those severely affected by the ongoing torrential floods and refugees in the State.
“It is the initiative or policy of the government of Northern Bahr Ghazal to help those whose crops were destroyed by floods including the refugees to curb soaring commodity prices,” he said.
Akuar said that the State government will set up centers in residential areas and other places where consumers will buy some of the food items at subsidized prices.
“We know these food items will not be enough for the whole population in the state, and we want to distribute this little food to our citizens so that they should know that the government is helping despite the hard economic situation,” he disclosed.
Akuar said the second shipment of food is expected to arrive in Aweil within the next few days.