To Uncle Ateny Wek Ateny: I am a Press Secretary to the Government, not Family.

Mr. Ateny Wek Ateny diverted a topic of his own grievances that he intended for another personality in the Government of Northern Bahr-al-Ghazal State to me. In his previous two articles published on his column (Beating the Drum of Truth) in The Citizen Daily, he singled me out, called me his nephew and accused me for being used by the Governor, Gen. Paul Malong Awan, to divide the family of Wekdit Ateny. For this reason, I am hereby responding to his anger that he poured into the public on wrong grounds that I was appointed to fight him.

In the first place, the rejoinder that I sent to The Citizen to correct the misinformation he passed to the public about the taxation system in the state in his piece entitled: NGBS: a fisher in the basket… was in defence of my government, and especially the Commissioner of Revenue Authority, that was adversely affected in the article by Mr. Ateny Wek Ateny. I want to make it categorically clear that I am an employee of the Government of South Sudan, especially the Northern Bahr-al-Ghazal State. By being there, I am not representing the family in any way, and therefore, would not abstain by correcting even my own uncle if he goes wrong on public issues.

Of course, a governor's press secretary, such as I am, is one of the secretariat members in the office of the Governor whose primary responsibility is to act as a spokesperson for the government. So I was executing my duties according to the terms of reference when I responded to his allegation on the topic he knows little about, since he is not an insider in Aweil but a distant critic based in Juba.

The Press Secretary is someone whose sole and core responsibilities are information gathering and dispensation in a right and wanted way, especially when it is connected to the government's issues. Therefore, I would like to assure my uncle in this case that I have taken an oath to serve the government, not only the governor with whom he seems to have a grudge, without bias and to the best of my ability. That is why I sent a document to put his allegations right, despite the fact that he is my uncle as he later wanted me to believe.

Thirdly, a press security is somebody who updates the public on the actions undertaken by the government especially the press briefings on already done and upcoming events within the Governor's administration. This allegation of unfounded corruption is one of them that I am to respond to in my position as a watchdog for the government and the people of the state.

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