Wek Ateny: My enemies wanted me to fall
Presidential Press Secretary Ateny Wek Ateny some “enemies” of progress were behind controversial video clips that got released to the public domain last year.
Ateny told The City Review in an exclusive that the videos in which he can be heard uttering his sexual urges for women were engineered by people who do not want to see him progress.
The press secretary said he addressed the wedding in question six months before the videos were released and quizzed the motive behind the release after all this period.
“The video was edited by those who wanted me to have a problem because I was addressing a wedding on February 5, 2021, and it went viral in July 2021; a significant gap of six months, which can indicate that the very people who put it online were trouble makers,” Ateny said.
In one of the videos, Mr Ateny used the Dinka dialect which was translated in different contexts by many people further sparking debates on the intended message.
“There is one mistake here people don’t see. People should know that any language, be it English, Dinka, Nuer or Bari is a vehicle for communicating the culture of a given society that has the language in a certain way.
“You cannot be offensive in saying the statement without taking action, but since it was addressed; it is a closed story, but I think it was used to the best by my enemies or my detractors who don’t want me to progress,” said the press secretary.
Not against women
Days after the clips went viral, a group of women protested and called on President Salva Kiir to fire the press secretary from the country’s highest office.
However, Mr Ateny told this publication the message was taken out of context and that he meant no offence against women.
“The statement that I actually issued was to give the correct reading of what I said at the wedding, and it was not to be taken the offensive against women,” he said.
Ateny claimed that he has no record of sexual and domestic violence against women and given the chance, he said, he would advocate for their rights.
“If there are males allowed to be feminists, I should be one of them. If there are males that are allowed to be female activists, I should be one of them because I have zero tolerance for abuse against women and I am applying it in my house. The simple thing is that I have 17 daughters and I have 4 wives, with whom I have never had any domestic violence. I am the one telling people how to respect women.
“If it were not because of my enemies wanting me to fall, I don’t see any problem that would have collided with any woman in the first place,” he said.
Modest husband and father
Asked about his desire for women, Ateny who was controversially nicknamed “Ateny-Dior” courtesy of the video clips, defended his remarks.
“This is exceedingly ridiculous. The reason why I am saying it is that it is a cultural understanding that all men are likely to be easy-going with women except those who have problems with women.
“Who is against a woman so that you can’t be gentle with them, but if people got to know me as a person, they’d realise I’m a very modest person? I am a reasonable person unless people are just trying to tarnish my image. I have no experience of any sexual violence against women,” he said.
“I don’t have any stories of molestation against women. My life is private, like any other person’s life. But because in South Sudan, people have actually become acquainted with gossiping, you will find people gossiping about me, which is their right. “I cannot intervene to tell them. I have no time to talk to everyone about their feelings towards me, but I know myself as a modest husband of four wives and a good father to my children,” he said.
