Parliament should hire PR to clean image dented by quarrels with journalist

The recent incident between members of National Assembly led by the Speaker  James Wani Igga and Mading Ngor, journalist working with Bakitha FM Radio has tarnished the image of the country abroad and at home. The damage in my opinion is huge for our newly independent nation and to clean it needs Public Relations (PR) firm to be hired. The only way of cleaning this particular damage is that the office of the Speaker should initiate a policy of hiring a foreign Public Relations firm to clean up the government and the parliament image dented by this particular incident.      I know some MPs are after the arguments that Nhial Bol of The Citizen and Mading Ngor must face the consequences but they run short to understand that the image of the nation is in the soul of the parliament and the Speaker is considered to be the most important person in the country.      With the press release said to have been signed by the Speaker and distributed in the last week press conference, has the image of the nation  tarnished because the Speaker’s remarks by all standards have been exploited by many citizens and international media in tarnishing the image of South Sudan adding to the other related incidents of police brutality, insecurity, land grabbing and tribal violence across the country.  I am not begging for pardoning but I want our Speaker and those MPs who are hostile with the media to take their times to protect the image of the nation instead of wasting time on the sins of journalists who return from exile or hiding in Khartoum. The political environment in my view needs a foreign PR firm to help in cleaning the damage. The press release of the Speaker which I have not yet seen will continue to add criticism for using excessive force to stop the media from exercising the constitutional right to freedom of expression, assembly and to hold demonstrations.      As a trained propagandist the reaction of the Speaker will mobilize a  pressure group whose aim is called civil action against poor government policies, allegations of corruption in government, failure to provide  public service delivery. The issue has not been treated as something between those of us who were hiding in Khartoum and the Speaker but at the end, it is the government of the day that will meet the cost in form of image damage. The challenge facing the current leadership is that fighting individuals in the streets tarnishes the image of a nation and later it will develop into a nationwide crisis that may invite confrontation between the authorities and civilian population.      Real governments that care for their image have abandoned flogging, manhandling or throwing journalists into police cells or prevented them from doing their work under archaic colonial laws because such actions add fuels in tarnishing the image of the government first and later the image of the nation. What did Igga achieve in picking quarrels with Mading Ngor and with me? Nothing. Instead his action has justified the brutality of the government organs which used to be doubted by foreign quarters.     The world was shocked when the Speaker distributed his known press statement because it serves nobody except a few quarters which were under the influence of the beliefs that government of South Sudan have developed  high-handedness of the security apparatus to undermine  the media work because the message of Igga was that he was behind the  suppression of freedom of expression and assembly without him knowing that he  had posed a threat to the country’s democratic progress and called for violations for human rights.      With these few words, my advice to the Speaker despite that we did not fight in the battlefield, our  great concern  is the proper management of  South Sudan and its international reputation  are  more important than his local quarrels with us. The Speaker should focus for the future of his government rather than wasting time on our sins. Journalists are more streamlined and purposeful.