By Yang Ater Yang
Lakes State Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) dismisses reports of the disappearance of Chinese rice donations to communities affected by severe hunger caused by flooding.
A member national assembly representing Cueibet County on the SPLM-IO ticket, Mr. Juol Nhomngek Gech, on Thursday, alleged that rice donation by Chinese disappeared without reaching the beneficiaries.
He blames Lakes State government for the alleged disappearance of the Chinese rice donation.
Juol told this outlet on the phone that the rice was meant to assist vulnerable communities that are in dire need of food and that two people have already died from hunger in Cueibet County.
According to him, the Chinese rice donation for Lakes State’s vulnerable communities was 2,371 bags of 50 kgs.
“We have received a report of two people who allegedly died of severe hunger in Cueibet County and that many people are starving because there is no food in the area due to last year’s destructive flood, which submerged crops and houses in the villages “, he said.
The MP said the Chinese donation left Juba for Lakes State on June 2 and disappeared on reaching Yirol West County.
He stated that vulnerable communities in need of that assistance were starving to death in Cueibet and Rumbek North counties.
However, in response to the lawmaker’s claim, the RRC deputy chairperson in Lakes State, Adhuk Achol Ageu, said the donated rice is available in the store in Yirol West County.
“I am not aware of rice disappearance in Yirol West county, but I know that the Chinese rice is brought to Yirol West county and it is there “, he said.
“I don’t know why it is stored there in Yirol West, and if it has disappeared, that’s what I don’t know,” Achol added.
He revealed that last year China donated over two hundred thousand bags of rice to the vulnerable communities of Cueibet, Rumbek North, and Rumbek Central counties.
Last years, flood submerged villages and crops in Cueibet, Amongpiny, Rumbek, and some parts of Yirol East, and it displaced the people. That’s why the Chinese decided to donate rice to Lakes State government through Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC).
“The donation is in Lakes State and it is in Yirol West County. I have talked to the RRC coordinator, and he has confirmed it,” Achol explained.
RRC coordinator in Yirol West County of Lakes State, Machiek Marial, confirmed the availability of Chinese rice in the store in Yirol West County.
“The rice is currently in the store in Yirol West County. The governor is here for two days in Yirol West, and he will be the one, together with the RRC chairperson, to launch the distribution,” he affirmed.
Marial added that the rice donation is for the whole state, especially the eight (8) counties that were severely affected by last year’s flooding.