Imported food should benefit the poorest the most

The idea of the Central Equatoria State government importing food to meet the demand of Juba residents during this Christmas season would be useful if those items were donated to the vulnerable people living in Juba rather than sold to them at a cut-price.

Indeed, as Christmas approaches, people are busy preparing to celebrate the day, and this inspires an increase in people’s demand for goods and services. Unfortunately, there are many people who have given up on their demands due to a lack of income to meet them. Within Juba City, there are a number of vulnerable people living in the streets and residential areas who cannot even afford a meal. They survive on begging from others, and every evening they go to sleep, not knowing what the next day will look like.

These are the people that the state government should have focused on by extending a helping hand to them instead of importing those commodities and selling them again.

We have three orphanages within Juba, and these children have no hope of celebrating Christmas except when they get food aid from the well-wishers and their government.

Although the goods will be sold at a subsidised price, the most vulnerable people will still not have access to them, despite the idea being meant to mitigate the sufferings facing ordinary people.

The point is, how will the disadvantaged groups like the elderly, the homeless, and orphans benefit from the imported goods? It is not illogical to think that the goods will only be accessible to the most vulnerable people, and so the working class and the well-off may be turned away because they can afford the goods stocked on the shelves.

The purchasing power of ordinary people has remained very low due to the high inflation rate in the country. Despite the idea of the state government contemplating importing goods to open a new market to increase ordinary consumers’ purchasing power, the gambit may otherwise fail to avail these commodities to the needy.

Consumer purchasing power is always measured by the disposable income that consumers amass for use and is determined by the consumer price index.

In short, it is the level at which consumers arrive at the affordability of goods and services.

However, we are living in a situation where the inflation rate is higher than the income, so, even if wages and salaries are increased, the standard of living will not improve.

Despite consumers receiving more money in their paychecks, they find their income inadequate to counter the rising prices. That means the most vulnerable people are more affected than the working class. So, at some point, they need to be provided with food relief to survive.