Bor municipality arrests five butcher men
August 6, 2016 (BOR) – At least five butcher men are now behind bars after they were arrested in Bor this week, following the protest waged by the butcher men against the reduction of meat prices by the Municipality council.
On Wednesday, a day after the order was passed, all the slaughtering houses did not work, probably in rejection of the order, saying the price cut by the government would make them lose much of the money they had spent on the heads of cattle they already bought.
But the office of the mayor was allegedly said to have ordered the arrest of the butcher men in which five were jailed.
Kuer Ajak told the press that his group, negotiated with the mayor to give them time to finish selling their current number of livestock waiting to be slaughtered, after which the prices would be reduced, but their request was turned down.
“Five of our members were arrested, jailed and their trading licenses were confiscated from them. They were fined a total of SSP10,000. This was not a good move,” Ajak told the media in Bor on Thursday.
The chairperson of the meat market, Alier Yuot, who spoke while in the police cell said that they didn’t know why most of them were arrested.
“I thought that the government belongs to us, I didn’t know why I am arrested with four people. What I told him [the Mayor] was that, I told him that cows are very expensive and they [cows] are not bought from here, they are being brought from different areas,” he said.
He said their prices were normal compared to the high cost they spent on buying the cattle from Duk and Twic East counties.
This week, authorities of Bor municipality council issued an order to reduce prices on fish and meat in the market of Bor.
Bor’s Mayor Akim Ajieth Buny said those arrested had not respected the provisional order. Ajieth said those who refused to implement the provisional order would lose their job licenses.
“Only five these are people who refuse to comply with our order, they refuse to comply with our order so we have decided to put them in the cell and then today they will answer their charges then after that we will be able to withdraw the license from them and therefore they will no be longer with us,” he said.
More butcher men who resumed work on Thursday and Friday were said to be have been asked to pay a fine ranging from SSP300 to SSP500 for the delay that caused when they refused to operate on Wednesday and Thursday.
(ST)