Northern Bahr el Ghazal authority has formed a committee to investigate allegations that some of the food meant for vulnerable people is being diverted in five counties.

These people have been constructing feeder roads, cultivating and working in the community in exchange for food rations.

The new committee includes officials from the ministries of agriculture, animal resources and forestry, water and rural development and physical infrastructure.

The director general in the state agriculture ministry, Joseph Garang Garang, says the decision came after the United Nations’ food agency, the WFP, assessed the food distribution process and met with government officials yesterday to show their findings.

Garang says the committee will carry out a proper investigation with the local community and beneficiaries before the authority can take action.

“Those who are distributing food are not following directives because one beneficiary in the group should receive nine gallons of sorghum, one tin of soil and one gallon of wheat each month,” said Mr Garang.

But distributors are only giving two or three gallons of sorghum to each beneficiary, the WFP says.

“If we find that these allegations are true, the government will follow the legal procedures with him or her,” Mr Garang added.

Garang urged the community to cooperate with the investigative committee across the targeted areas in the state.