By Yiep Joseph
Residents in Panrieng town of Ruweng Administrative Area (RAA) are complaining about exploitation by foreign traders who are abnormally increasing the prices of essential goods in the market.
The residents are urging the government of the administrative area to intervene, as they believe the traders are taking advantage of the economic crisis to make more profits at the expense of the poor citizens.
In an interview, James Mijok, a resident of Panrieng, stated that the traders are charging higher prices in hopes of making huge profits.
“Here they are not doing business; they are just stealing money from us, the residents, the foreign traders will charge any amount,” Mijok said.
“They will charge you very high, and I am sure they wanted to get thousands of South Sudanese pounds on one single good, which they bought cheaply in Juba or Sudan,” he added.
He said that the traders do complain about transport costs from Juba to the area, which he claimed is not true, citing that some goods that are usually packaged in cartons are not charged highly at the airstrip.
He added that since most businesses are owned by foreign traders in the area, they always set high prices of commodities jointly in order to confuse the residents that prices are high in Juba.
Mjiok appealed to the administrative area government to intervene, adding that if it continues, residents with little or no money will continue to suffer.
“I called on our government to intervene because our people with little or no money cannot even afford to buy sugar,” he said.
He appealed to the town mayor, in particular, to ensure that prices are regulated so both the traders and the communities get their rights.
“Traders can complain of high taxes and transport costs, including rent, but they cannot be left like that just to continue to overcharge us under cover of those costs; they must be regulated so that we get our rights and they get theirs too,” he said.
He said as the crises continue to hit the country, there is a need to regulate traders at the grassroots, citing that they overcharge citizens and claim to be having a lot of challenges.
On her part, Rachael Achol said that the traders charge high prices on commodities that are needed for daily life.
“You see now a kilo of sugar is SSP 15000, a bar of soap is SSP 7000 or 8000 etc, but these are the things we need daily; life is very hard here,” she said.
She called on the government to regulate the traders to reduce such exploitation.
However, Ali Ahmad, a trader in Panrieng, claimed that their charges are high due to inflation and several taxes.
He said besides the high transportation cost from Juba there are various taxes.
“We do not just charge, but we calculate and include all the costs, including rent, taxes, and transport costs, the little profit,” he said.
He admitted the suffering of the residents due to high prices and promised that the traders will reduce prices when the transport and other costs are reduced.