By Bida Elly David
The commissioner of Yei River County, Aggrey Cyrus Kanyikwa has refuted claims that went viral on the Social media that citizens in his county have staged a hunger strike that came as a result of high cost of living.
Meanwhile reacting to the rumors, commissioner Aggrey told No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday, via phone from Yei that the claimed strike was a propaganda noting that the photos posted demonstrated a different pictorial that does not represent any place in Yei.
Commissioner Aggrey however accepted the fact that Yei is undergoing serious economic challenge as commodity prices rise on daily basis testifying that nothing related to street riots transpired in the County as citizens remain committed to subsistence farming.
“The hunger strike or demonstration was done in an isolated place which is not surely Yei since that could have been realized. I was not even aware of that demonstration and came to see it on the social media,” he said.
Aggrey said he was even ignorant of the people who posted those protest photos on the Social media with the intention of spoiling the reputation of the government and the entire status of the Country.
“Upto now, we don’t know those people who posted themselves on the social media with posters and where they are. We even didn’t know what happened and how it happened,” he said
Commissioner Aggrey further noted that Yei generally is well as people remain committed with their business and farming activities despite the unstable prices of goods hiked by hyperinflation.
On the issue of infrastructure, Aggrey said that there has been much improvement on the nature of roads as traders can access commercial services centers.
He underscored that Juba-Yei and Kaya-Yei roads are currently in good shape and accessible by passengers only that many efforts need to be invested in fighting inflation to enable poor people meet their standard of living.
He noted that the nature of living standard in Yei is also determined by rating those who produce and those who depend highly in the market commodities.
“Yei is more or less okay for those people who produce adequate food. Those who don’t produce food and rely in the market are greatly affected”
In continuation, he said that another affected group of people in Yei are the IDPs who could not get chance to farm due to the displacement amid the insecurity.
He concluded that the devastating rate of insecurity such as highway attacks along Juba-Yei and Yei-Kaya has calm since forces are always alert for the citizens.