Lakes State in new twist of barren supply and high prices
By Athian Mayen
It’s seems like a wrap for Lakes State, for long what’s been nagging is communal clashes, and in any gathering it’s about how we can bring unity to the State however now; the diminishing supply of essential goods shall be on the loacal agenda,
limitedness of products and high prices altogether are agonizing people, For those who don’t know the current situation in the Lakes State, it is economically pathetic, unfair and feels like it’s gone back to the last century.
Many shops and petrol stations across the State are shut dead, because the goods or services are over and can’t be re-stocked soon. And as you know very well that apart from Agricultural products, Lake State like the rest of States doesn’t unearth anything else. Home essentials like sugar, cooking oil, soap, maize flour are out of sight in the shops and expensive for the locals when found.
Meanwhile, this is attributed to the breakdown of Juba-Rumbek road by rains which has left trucks stuck for months. The State has been completely cut off from the Capital where most goods from East Africa pass, and since the introduction of Golden Wings flights to the State, very few now use the road now. For a State that’s in the middle and far from any boarder, live has become very difficult.
As a matter of fact, to have essential things available and not afford them is one thing, while having limited or no goods in the shops is another. I believe that local government servants, teachers NGOs workers are not the only customers in Lakes State, the entire population are the consumers.
Right now, communities in the State are yearning for these goods like the Nation is for peace, so to ease life and give taste to it. Don’t be fooled, there’s nothing that hasn’t reached the villages. Those people in the State and rural areas alike consume these small things just like people in Juba here.
Recently, when merchandise downed for example in Yirol town, some shop owners mainly Darfuris closed their shops; people thought they were “arrogant” or reserving their goods to take advantage later on. But they were clearly out of stock.
Additionally, the demand for fuel in Lakes State is similar to demand for coats/fur in winter season, you’d be fortunate enough to find fuel there; it is completely out of the market. The Somalis who supply it are not accessing the road, which has doubled the price, a liter from nine pounds to eighteen pounds, and who know if the situation persists it may continue to rocket sharply.
Yet unfortunately, fuel is not only for cars in South Sudan, but a substitute for Hydro-electric power. What is going to turn on those machines, the generator enables?
In this critical time in the State, the citizens of Lakes are not worried of insecurity, but high prices and unavailability of goods, this needs urgent intervention from the Central Government.
The road to Lakes State can serve the three regions of the Country and therefore needs to be prioritized in the forthcoming summer once and for all.
Contact: mayenathian@gmail.com
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