SOUTH SUDAN: Letter To Gen Paul Malong Awan

At 8:30 pm last night I learnt that you have been fired by President Salva Kiir; that you have been replaced by one Gen.James Ajongo Madut, and that you are no longer Chief of General staff of Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLM/A).

I hope you received the suitable autocratic prescription, and now you get the best pills. That is how a dictatorship works after it is fully crowned.

Do not think when we protest dictatorship in our country that we hate it for sake of it, no it wasn’t that. Dictatorial rule often reward good with bad, and it is anti-merit. On the other hand, whether you’re relative, friends or tribe mate to the dictator, you are not immune from his or her wrath.

Your removal is the clarion call to those who are still backing the SPLM regime, the claws of dictatorship will one time get holds of you whether you are its gatekeeper or an ardent member of its kitchen cabinet.

I’m not surprised that you are kicked in the face. Normally, that is what you get when one becomes loyal to the person in power than the constitution. It is common knowledge that you choose to defend and uphold Salva Kiir’s personal interest than that of the South Sudanese citizenry.

Remember that you have been acting contrarily to your solemn duty as astute soldier. You must have learnt that the cardinal roles of an army are to protect and defend citizenry against internal and external security threats. However, instead of you acting against the threats to their existence, you colluded and became a threat to them.

Indisputably, you and President Salva Kiir have defeated the rule of law, and now it is the rule of person that now prevails in our land. You were used to defile the transitional constitution of South Sudan 2011.

They say ‘‘what goes around comes around’’. You now taste the bitter pills of authoritarian rules. Yesterday night, you were torn and thrown down like piece of paper without any explanation notwithstanding what you did to maintain the regime.

I presumed that you were military guru; that you will not cry foul in the end; that you will dough the kick on your face or detected the kick before it comes.Mark my words, I’m not in any way celebrating your woes nor am i mocking you because I have nothing to loss or gain.

In fact I’m simply pointing out where you erred in your capacity as someone in leadership position and as an Elder son of South Sudan.

In 2010, you vied for gubernatorial seat, and the great people of Northern Bahr El Ghazal elected you as their first Governor of the independent South Sudan. You then became the first beneficiary of sweet democracy that we yearn for. The liberal people of Awiel gave you power in broad day light via ballot.

However, in 2013, President Salva Kiir misadvised you that the power of bullet is sweeter than the power of the ballot. And you did believe it.

Subsequently, you abandoned the people of Northern Bahr El ghazal, and accepted to be appointed chief of General staff to execute what you have done to the best of your abilities: attacking democratic norms that we fought and aspired for; arresting incommunicado all political dissidents and assaulting citizens who merely expressed diversion views.

If you weigh between the position of chief of general staff and governorship which one is better? I know we cannot have single answer, but in my view I would prefer the latter.

Prior to your appointment as chief of general staff in 2014, it was alleged that you were contracted by your erstwhile comrade Salva Kiir to trained militia group known as ‘Dut-kubeny’ and later recruit the Infamous militia dubbed ‘Mathiang Anyor’ The is aware that It was this militia groups that scuttle the democratic playing fields in our country. In other words, You used them to disrupt the 2015 general election.

Over times, there has been a fallacy that the president can fired his chief of general staff at whim, this is untrue. In a democracy, every decision must be accompanied by convincing reasons.

However, this policy of firing individuals from their jobs without giving an iota of reason is not known to the law; it is archaic and autocratic. In other words, any dismissal issued via decree is an autocratic in nature. Where rule of law exist, members of the discipline forces can complete their tenure successfully.

In the event, an Army felt offended or purged irregularly, they can channel their grievances via the mechanisms are granted by law., and that is why we have a court martial.

In any case, President Salva Kiir could have told you to resign instead of throwing you down like a sack of maize in public.
Folks, all I’m driving at herein is that it is safer to defend and be loyal to the law than being loyal to the person in power. It is always said that‘truth and friendship is like a mirror, and when it breaks you do not want to look at it again’.

Of late, Salva Kiir looks at you as an antagonistic figure in his regime. Remember he is no longer facing imminent threats unlike before.

The East Africa regions have sided with him, and Riek Machar has taken a break in South Africa. Hence, he probably thought by purging you, he would get an avalanche of sympathies from the locals and by extension the international community. And as you can see on social media, there are jubilant reactions from across political divides.

I reiterate, being loyal to the constitution is far better for it serves the interest of the majority. This is a wake-up call to all soldiers in South Sudan to abide by their constitutional mandate.

Paul Malong, I wish you had been a sycophant to the constitution, and become Peoples’ watchman. I’m sure today you could have become the President of South Sudan in the same manner Abdel Fattah El-Sisi became Egyptian President after ousting villain Leader Mohamed Morsi in 2012.