OPINION | Amb. Monica Achol Abel Aguek’s cyber bullying is a mockery of Kiir’s presidency

Cyberbullying is often dismissed as noise—harsh words exchanged in the heat of online debate. But when such abuse is systematically directed at a presidential envoy, it ceases to be mere speech. It becomes a direct challenge to state authority, a mockery of the presidency, and a threat to national security.

The sustained cyberbullying of Ambassador Monica Achol Abel Aguek, the Presidential Envoy to the Middle East and Gulf States, is not an isolated personal attack. It is a calculated assault on the authority that appointed her. In constitutional terms, it is President Salva Kiir who is being publicly ridiculed through his appointee.

Ambassadors do not appoint themselves. They are entrusted with national representation by the Head of State. When online mobs openly demean, insult, and delegitimise a presidential envoy, they are effectively declaring that presidential authority can be mocked without consequences. That is a dangerous precedent for any state—especially one still consolidating peace, unity, and institutional discipline.

More worrying is the strategic damage such cyberbullying inflicts. Kiir’s political stability has long depended on cohesion within his support base and respect for hierarchical authority. When individuals from within that base engage in online harassment of a senior appointee, they quietly erode internal trust and fracture political solidarity. This is how internal decay begins—not through opposition pressure, but through indiscipline among supposed insiders.

National security is not limited to borders and armed forces. It includes political cohesion, legitimacy, and respect for authority. Allowing cyberbullying of a presidential envoy to continue unchecked sends a signal that the state is either unwilling or unable to defend its own institutions. That perception emboldens not only online abusers but also those who seek to weaken the government through disorder rather than debate.

Equally damaging is the international dimension. Ambassador Achol Abel Aguek represents South Sudan to foreign governments in a strategically vital region. When she is publicly humiliated online by her own citizens, it undermines diplomatic credibility and projects an image of internal chaos. No serious state allows its envoys to be publicly discredited without response.

The issue here is not criticism. Constructive criticism is a democratic right. But cyberbullying is not criticism. It is harassment, intimidation, and reputational sabotage. When directed at a presidential appointee, it crosses from free expression into institutional sabotage.

This is why law enforcement must act. Cybercrime laws exist for a reason: deterrence. Failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible will only embolden others to follow the same path. Impunity online inevitably breeds lawlessness offline. A state that tolerates digital anarchy weakens its own authority.

Arresting and prosecuting cyber bullies is not about silencing dissent; it is about defending the rule of law and protecting the dignity of state institutions. No presidency can survive if its appointments are reduced to punchlines on social media.

President Kiir’s authority must be defended not through rhetoric, but through action. The longer this cyberbullying continues unchecked, the greater the risk to political cohesion, to national security, and to the credibility of governance itself.

A nation that respects itself does not allow its presidency to be mocked through digital abuse. Accountability must prevail—now, not later.

John Bith Aliap is a South Sudanese political analyst and commentator on governance, leadership, and state-building in post-conflict societies. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the editorial stance of Sudans Post. He can be reached at johnaliap2021@hotmail.com.