Ateny under spotlight on sexual scandals, risks lawsuit

South Sudan’s Presidential Press Secretary, Ateny Wek Ateny, is now under the spotlight on possibly-immoral sexual activities against women at J1 palace, according to firsthand complainants.

Ateny— a high-profile figure in South Sudan— is being accused of using the president’s office as bait to entice girls and women into sexual relationships.

“The boss of Presidential Press Units [referring to Ateny Wek Ateny] has been repeatedly practicing and lecturing types of misconduct while working around our President whom, we (citizens) tirelessly stood behind him during the liberation struggle and voted him in 2010,” wrote a concerned citizen on social media.

Daniella Valentino Wol, a staunch critic of Ateny, has lodged a complaint in recent months, accusing him of turning the president’s office into a brothel.

“Good morning Mr. President, I became homeless in December 2020 and checked myself into a cheaper hotel, and could have had money to pay for it — if I hadn’t refused to have sex with Ateny Wek Ateny,” Daniel claimed on Facebook.

“Mr President, Ateny is using your office and public resources to destroy women of South Sudan and your Presidential image,” she said.

Adding that, “No women should be sleeping with Ateny in order for him to give them money to feed their children. I know he has told you many lies about me but he has left out the truth about his fighting against me which is simply my body. Land mark hotel is Prostitution place for Ateny Wek Ateny.”

Ateny, who had been a vocal critic of the country’s rulers, was appointed in 2013 as the press secretary by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit.