By William Madouk<\/p>\n
Vice President in charge of Economic Cluster Dr. James Wani Igga’s gesture of goodwill has backfired.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Lots of criticism have flooded social media with commentators viewing VP. Igga as \u201cfrugal\u201d for his meager gift to local sports in Lobonok Payam.<\/p>\n On Monday, Dr. Igga donated SSP 800,000, approximately $150 to support local sports during Christmas in Lo\u2019bonok Payam, Central Equatoria State.<\/p>\n The donation followed his attendance of a friendly match between Lo\u2019bonok United and Yapa United, which ended in a 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n According to the office of Vice President, the donation was intended to support both clubs and the match officials who participated in the game.<\/p>\n However, what some considered a generous contribution has been misinterpreted as stinginess.<\/p>\n \u201cThe economy that Prof. Wani studied is the worst one ever. Why did he donate SSP 800,000 which is equivalent to $150 to the local football team? That amount should be given to a person, not a team,\u201d one online user commented.<\/p>\n Moreover, the former press secretary in the president’s office, Ateny Wek Ateny, commented that it\u2019s just a pretense from the vice president that they are feeling the same economic hardship.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best thing for him to do would have been to let those boys go without receiving any donations from him, instead of paying $150 which is below what everyone expects of someone of Dr. Igga\u2019s level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnyway, in this economic situation, some people are just pretending they are also facing the same as people of South Sudan,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Mr. Ateny wondered if the Vice President could donate such a small amount; then, how much could anyone below the Vice President contribute?<\/p>\n Another netizen said: \u201cI am surprised he has contributed $150 H.E Dr. Gen.Wani has mastered the art of not giving money. He is a philosopher of economics.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides, another criticizer stated that: \u201cI think he awarded this money to the man of the match only, otherwise this level of stinginess needs to be studied,\u201d<\/p>\n However, one said \u201cJunubin are too complicated. Imagine when someone from a government donated little money, you guys called him stingy but when he donated a huge money \u2013 you guys complained that it is a public resource. Where can he get such an amount?\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Titus, not his real name agreed by saying \u201cwe South Sudanese cannot appreciate, $150 (SSP800,000) is better than our critic comments. Doctor, I salute you because you have given this deeply from the bottom of your heart without pride.\u201d<\/p>\n In rebuttal, the first deputy director of press, office of the VP, Cde Korsuk Silver Nyarsuk told off criticizers alleging that in South Sudan no \u2018news is good news\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cSocial media outlets and platforms have indulged in fierce criticism regarding the contribution of H.E Prof. James Wani Igga, while in Lo\u2019bonok for his annual Christmas festivities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWani attends several Christmas gatherings, and there, he never hesitates to give the little for his family to share with others,\u201d Nyarsuk added.<\/p>\n VP\u2019s mouthpiece explained that the SSP 800,000 was a Christmas token for two teams, which doesn\u2019t exceed 40 players, coaches and managers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe aim of reporting that story was to tell the public that, VP Wani Igga was a humble, simple and social person in our community who can interact easily, can join you in either occasion joyful or sorrowful,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n He lashed out citing that \u201ccriticizing one\u2019s contribution regardless of his or her portfolio is really uncalled for, on the other hand converting the country\u2019s legal tender to hard currency and making comparisons means lack of nationalism,\u201d<\/p>\n Civil servants in South Sudan have gone for nearly one year without pay.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, as 2025 begins, South Sudanese, like people everywhere, are taking stock of the past year and hoping for a better future despite the country’s harsh economic realities.<\/p>\n This year has been filled with many challenges, such as hyperinflation, and rising commodity prices, and, despite the general relative calm, several states have reported high rates of conflict and intercommunal violence, to name a few.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By William Madouk Vice President in charge of Economic Cluster Dr. James Wani Igga’s gesture of goodwill has backfired. Lots of criticism have flooded social media with commentators viewing VP. Igga as \u201cfrugal\u201d for his meager gift to local sports in Lobonok Payam. On Monday, Dr. Igga donated SSP 800,000,[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":32212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/VP-Dr.-James-Wani-Igga.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32213,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32211\/revisions\/32213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}