By Hou Akot Hou
Northern Bahr el Ghazal state government has purchased 26 cars for cabinet ministers.
William Anyuon Kuol, the state minister of information Minister said 19 of the vehicles are already in Aweil town.
“The remaining seven cars will be brought through Mombasa Port as they were bought in United Arab Emirates, Dubai and it is in our hope that they will all arrive,” Anyuon told journalists in Juba.
He said that the cars will be distributed to the ministers, commissioners and heads of commissions, adding that some officials have been using motorbikes for long.
“It is something that worries us a lot as you could find that some of these ministers and chairpersons of the commissions and commissioners used to trek to office or at times on motorbikes which is too shameful,” Anyuon said.
He said the money for purchasing these cars was generated from local revenues collected by the state.
Anyoun disclosed that Governor Tong Aken Ngor authorized the purchase of the vehicles for state officials.
He said the vehicles will ease movement of officials to any parts of the state.
Anyuon said the company called RAM that was contracted to buy the vehicles will deliver the receipts of purchase to help them in accountability.
The purchase of the lavish vehicles for officials comes at the time when citizens are enduring economic hardship due to the depreciation of the South Sudanese Pound against the U.S dollar.
Northern Bahr el Ghazal state is also among the states hosting thousands of returnees and refugees who fled conflict in neighboring Sudan. This influx has further put pressure on scarce local resources available that could cause competition and conflict between the host community and the refugees.
