Appointed as BGN Head, Sudaryono Supports Legal Process for Corruption in Free Nutritious Meal Programme

Sudaryono was officially inaugurated as Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) on Wednesday afternoon (22/7/2026). The former Deputy Minister of Agriculture replaces Nanik S Deyang, who resigned as head of the agency running the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme due to health reasons on Wednesday morning. Sudaryono acknowledged that there are still many governance issues within the agency he now leads. He is also not turning a blind eye to the irregularities that have occurred within the BGN. The corruption case involving several former BGN officials is still ongoing at the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung). In his briefing to BGN staff, he urged all parties not to shirk their legal responsibilities. “So I want, for those here who may be parties under investigation, then suspected, some have already been named as suspects, some are witnesses, and so on. I want the legal matters to be the business of law enforcement,” he said at the BGN Building on Wednesday (22/7/2026). He stated that his agency will fully hand over the handling of cases occurring within the BGN to law enforcement officials. Nevertheless, he affirmed his support for the handling of the case. “The point is, as the new head of the agency, we support whatever is needed for law enforcement, we will provide it,” Sudaryono said. Despite this, he reminded his staff not to forget to improve the governance of the MBG programme. The MBG is one of President Prabowo Subianto’s priority programmes and must continue to operate. “So I want to invite everyone on the team not to get caught up in pessimism and sadness. We must be optimistic, we can solve this problem, and we are confident that this programme is good, and we can then fix its governance,” said the Gerindra Party politician. Sudaryono stressed that his side will make the implementation of the MBG programme transparent. Furthermore, his side will also create a system so that the programme’s implementation runs optimally. “It can no longer depend on certain persons, it must be by system. If previously everything might have been according to the direction of this person or that person, no more. We follow the technical guidelines, the rules, and the system we build, we are heading there,” he said.