Nobody is going to eat meat in Aweil town, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State, today after butchers went on strike over imposed prices.
Last Friday, the town municipal council asked the butchers to reduce the price of 1kg goat meat from 4000 to 3000 Pounds. It said a 1kg of beef must be sold at 2000 Pounds.
But butchers argue that they would be making “huge losses” if they did so.
“We need to continue selling the meat at the usual prices, and if the government doesn’t want that, we will not operate anymore,” said Gordon Majok, head of the butchers in Aweil town.
“We buy a bull at around 300,000 SSP – 500,000 at the auction house. So, if you come and sell the meat at the price of 2000 per kilo, it will be 200,000 SSP – which is a huge loss to us.”
He went to challenge the town authorities to buy a cow and sell the meat to see for themselves the losses.
The town authorities have declined to comment on the matter when Akol Yam FM visited their offices, seeking comments – saying they were still consulting with butchers.