STOP THE MANY SPOKESPERSONS
5 min readBy Kuol Alberto Makuach, Juba, South Sudan
April 29, 2016 (SSB) — Now that peace is being implemented in letter and spirit, I was wondering what will happen to the various mouth pieces in the country? Some of these spokespersons, did their job genuinely whereas others did so to please their bosses and supporters and not on the bases of truth.
In a country where everyone wants to make sure that his/her side releases the information, I am wondering are we going to have the same scenario like when we were fighting this senseless war.
Do you people feel the same way I feel about the distorted, perplexing and obfuscating information we get daily from these many mouth pieces of different institutions, factions, leaders and government? I shall list the few I have and you can add the rest you can think off.
Just in case you didn’t know, Former Detainees the so called historical leaders or SPLM leaders have their own spokesmen in the name of John Luke Jok and Madut Biar Yel. I don’t want to go into details about why they don’t deserve that title because in truth, there are other senior SPLM members rather than them. What John Luke used to do was to bring forth the position of the FDGs regarding the war that was escalating or the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ACRSS) after it was inked by Riek and Kiir.
The Presidency has Ateny Wek Ateny, a lawyer, columnist and civil right activist who relinquished his carrier for the job of defending the presidency. He serves as the mouth of the president because we hardly hear Kiir Mayardit addressing the nation on any issues except the presidential decrees. Even if there are pressing issues, Kiir chooses to use others to do the talking on his behalf. This way, I personally, don’t feel the weight of that information being conveyed by somebody else while the fellow is not dead. Kiir Mayardit, even a simple message of wishing the nation a happy feast (Christmas, Easter, Eid el Fitr), he prefers it being read on SSTV. I will one day tackle this on a different article. Ateny does his job both by talking to the media (Aljazeera, BBC and others) and sending out information through facebook. In case you did not know, check him out often in his facebook account to get the latest news at the presidency.
The same activity is what another guy does in the SPLMIO camp and that fellow is none other than the famous James Gadet Dak. Gadet is the right hand man of Riek Machar when it comes to conveying serious messages in his office. Gadet has been very instrumental not only to the IO but to the entire country for his articulate and serious reporting.
The Cabinet and indeed the government of South Sudan has Michael Makuei Lueth, a renowned lawyer, military minded, contemptuous and a shrewd fellow, as their spokesman. Many feared him both within and outside. His retention of the same ministry of information has already sent shocking waves to the journalists and entire enemies of the government of Salva Kiir and more so to the agents of regime change. Michael is one sided but very meticulous in his words. He does not backtrack and if he does, he uses logic and his law background to get out of the tunnel.
Mabior Garang Mabior, the son of Nyandeng Chol, is the official spokesman for the SPLM-IO. He has spread a lot of propaganda against the government and some members within the government. He is known as well for speaking his mind. They do this same activity with William Ezekiel.
For the SPLA, their spokesperson is none other than the former IO army spokesperson (Lul Ruai). While with the IO before he switched side midst last year (2015), Lul Ruai spread lies and unfounded victories in the interest of the IO. I don’t know if he would continue doing the same for the government now that he is the head of information.
The Rebels of Riek Machar have William Gatjiath Deng and Dickson Gatluak as official military spokespersons. They deny what the IO did and accuse the government on what the government did not do. Such are the wonders of this camp.
As the nation struggles to put everybody on the boat of peace, above are the baggage we expect to carry with us. These may likely sink the ship unless we choose to throw out some of this baggage.
The best option is to have one mouth piece for peace to progress. The SPLA should be structured to have one person from those with the government and the other from the rebels of Riek Machar. This could be treated in all these so that we get clear and succinct information as ordinary citizens of this nation.
Failure to do this, would make us ignorant of what is going on and what is the reality. It is the same government with different structures and as such there is no need for official spokesperson for each faction.
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