MY APPEAL TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF SOUTH SUDAN, GENERAL SALVA KIIR MAYARDIT, TO REMOVE ATENY WEK ATENY

Opinion

By David Deng Chapath,

Kampala, Uganda

Feb 25th, 2017(Nyamipedia) —– Perhaps, it may be of help to begin with statement of Thomas Sowell who once quoted to have said, “The least productive people is usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings”.  The gist of this statement is that those who are incompetent or nonperformers know how to talk more than doing the work.

It is in that respect, I have taken this opportunity to appeal the President of the Republic of South Sudan to look into the issue of Ateny Wek Ateny. Ateny Wek is incompetent to be appointed in such sensitive post.

As I have been following Ateny’s actions and what he says I have finally come to the conclusion that Ateny does not deserve the honour to be appointed in that sensitive post like the press secretary of the President for the following reasons—

First of all, Ateny does not know how to keep and deal with the sensitive state issues or information. He talks with big mouth wherever he is and by implication let the cat out of the basket every time he talks. Ateny talks like as if he is the President. This is owed to the fact that he does not know his job limit of job or description of his job.

If I can ask this simple question: how times Ateny has revealed some sensitive State information which sometimes have been putting him in hot water with the state authorities.

The clear example was when he came to Uganda to talk with people but clearly he exposed the secrets of the State against General Malong which was good on General Malong’s side but ethically, it was inappropriate for him to talk of such issues in the public.

Second to it, Ateny does not know the boundary and description of his job. He always creates confusion concerning the issue as to who should communicate on behalf of South Sudan externally. Ateny has been grabbing job of Minister of information which has created a lot of confusion in relationship between South Sudan and other countries. For example, when he was invited to address some of the Ugandan government officials he started attacking them which is diplomatically wrong and inappropriate.

Thirdly, Ateny does not help the president to know the concerns of the citizens. For instance, when people complain against him or state the simple action he undertakes is to block them which is never a solution. The example of the people he blocked from his facebook page are Volentino Daniela Wol and me and may be there are many others he blocked thinking that it is the solution.

Nonetheless, the solution is not to block the people but rather to write down their complaints and then forward them to the president in order for the president to make a decision on how to address those complaints, which is the appropriate means how the state address the issues or concerns of the citizens.

However, Ateny Wek does not know this as what he knows is always to tell the president nice things though things are not as good as he explains them to the President. Partly, the president is being hated by many due to the fact that the country is sinking into deeper crisis today because of Ateny who keeps the President in darkness.

In other words, Ateny is a specialist in the politics of Ostrich that puts its head in the sand thinking that the danger is gone yet that danger will kill it later.

In summary, there are many areas which Ateny Wek Ateny has shown lack of competency and because of that he does not deserve to be in the office of the president or to be the spokesperson of the President.

I therefore I appeal the President, his Excellency General Salva Kiir Mayardit, to remove Ateny and if appropriate to appoint either Emmanuel Monychol Akop or Manyang Mayom who are great journalist. These two personalities can help him in protect South Sudan image. It is in the best interest of the president to do that quickly in order to save his image as Ateny is a deadwood in his office.

The author can be reached through dengchapath2018@gmail.com