Local authorities in the proposed Gogrial State on Friday set up a joint committee involving local traders to assess the market before a fixed prices order is issued.
This comes following soaring prices of food and non-food items in Kuajok town.
Adior Kuol Amum, information minister, told reporters that the joint committee’s report will help them to adjust prices in a way that will not affect businesses and citizens.
“Food commodities remain high although the government has exempted taxes from food commodities in March this year. So each trader is selling at his or her own prices and prices are increases all the time” said Adior.
“If you go to the market in the morning you find different prices likewise to the evening. This has become a problem to every citizens whether ministers or ordinary people, this has affected all of us and especially those without any job” she added.
For his part, Akech Mayar Akok, chairperson of traders union, said all foreign traders should start to import goods and resell them to the local traders at wholesale prices.
“The foreign traders who are supposed to be the ones to go to Uganda and import goods, they don’t go but instead they buy goods from the local traders and resell them to customers at higher prices in the market. So we want the government to help us in this issue so that foreign trade at wholesale instead of retail businesses “said Mayar.
The joint committee formed is headed by the state minister of local government Aleu Akol Malak and deputized by the Kuajok town mayor John Akol Akol Ngor including parliamentarians with membership of trader’s union and security organs.
The committee is expected to accomplish its task over the weekend and report its findings to the state governor today.