KABUL (SW) – Social media has been taken by a storm by the list of 18 types of meat allegedly consumed at the presidential palace and other corresponding top offices.
Two weeks ago, Khan Agha Rezaei, chairman of the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) internal affairs committee, told a plenary session that staff from the presidency was consuming 18 types of meat, and that the palace consumed vegetables worth $ 30 million in a year. He published the copy of contracts for these items on twitter.
Commenting on this, a social media user Javad Sade wrote that though President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani claims to implement fair and just system, but his actions suggest just the opposite. Another Facebook user wrote that he has lived in Kabul for more than 15 years, but has not eaten more than four types of meat.
Mahsa Hezah, another Facebook user, wrote that one of her Algerian colleagues got to know about this 18 types of meat issue and could not believe it to be true. Zafar Shah Royi, a reporter in Kabul, said he was surprised by the consumption of 18 types of meat at the presidency, because such variety is not even served at five-star restaurants.
Ali, a resident of Kabul, said the top officials are eating 18 kinds of meat while the soldiers in the trenches often have no food to eat, and the teachers, who are the brains of the community, are not receiving their salaries on time.
However, officials at the presidency have rejected these allegations.
Shah Hussein Murtazavi, the president’s cultural adviser, wrote on Facebook that these ‘rumors’ are part of the psychological war against the presidency.
This comes days after former finance minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said in a press conference that one of the reasons for his dismissal was his opposition to this list of 18 types of meat.
Meanwhile, Sadaqatullah Sadiq, deputy director finance and administration at the Administrative Office of President, said that employees of the AOP, employees of the National Security Council and employees of the Supreme Audit Office do not eat more than three types of meat.
According to him, these three types of meat include mutton, beef and chicken. But, Sadiq clarified that the rest of variety is marked in the bill as default items for foreign dignitaries.
The leaked procurement documents show that contract for 18 types of meat worth at least AFN 63.9 million has been proposed to the National Procurement Commission. The contracting firm has been identified as “Naubahar Qalb-e-Asia Trading Limited” and the duration of it has been determined until the mid of March 2021.
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