Appeal by Gen. Paul Malong’s wife: Release my husband to seek medical attention

[Elisabeth Janaina]

Appeal by Gen. Paul Malong’s wife: Release my husband to seek medical attention


Posted: August 4, 2017 by PaanLuel Wël in Commentary, Contributing
Writers, Junub Sudan, Letters, Opinion Articles, Opinion Writers
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Open letter to the President of the Republic of South Sudan, H.E Salva
Kiir: Appeal by Gen. Paul Malong’s Wife for her Husband Release for
Medical Attention

By Lucy Ayak Malek, Nairobi, Kenya
paul malong

President Salva Kiir, Governor Paul Malong Awan (Blue suit) and
Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Lomuro (black suit) during the public
rally in Aweil, NBeG

August 4, 2017 (SSB) — Mr. President, with humility and respect,
receive my kind greetings. My name is Lucy Ayak, wife of your long
time friend, comrade and commander; Gen. Paul Malong Awan, the former
Chief of General staff of the SPLA. I find myself having no option
rather than to use this forum to address you as my last resort since
all other attempts to communicate with you have been circumstantially
rendered futile.

As you well know Mr. President, a young country like ours, born out of
a protracted struggle, many people (sometimes entire families and
clans) have had to sacrifice their brothers and sisters for the cause
of liberation. Many of your comrades who started the struggle with you
are no more, but the Country will forever be grateful for their
sacrifices.

As a wife of Gen. Paul Malong, along with his entire family, the
situation we find ourselves in currently is purely precarious. I well
understand that the struggle for liberation required the manpower to
operate it, and to that end, I am a proud wife of one of our Country’s
most decorated serviceman under your command and administration.

And to that far, I consider myself lucky since many in my shoes have
been widowed and their children orphaned by the brutal war that has
claimed the lives of their husbands/fathers (your fallen comrades).

Your Excellency, all I could hoped for was that a time comes when my
husband completes his call of duty and retires home to his family
where we can raise our children in a peaceful family setting. That was
my expectation when you, Mr. President relieved Gen. Malong of his
duties two months plus ago.

Indeed that was his expectation too, that since he don’t have official
duties anymore in Juba, he could simply “go back to his home town and
live peacefully amongst his people” as echoed in his own words. And
yet, when he attempted to leave the city (Juba), he was intercepted,
bait laid using his friends and forcefully brought back to Juba like a
common criminal.

With all due respect Mr. President, my husband Gen. Paul Malong,
deserved better than that. He deserves to be treated with some degree
of respect, because in my opinion, he has earned it throughout the
struggle for South Sudan and as your comrade, I believe you know.

Mr. President, I find myself in this difficult situation where I don’t
know what to expect next. As I write this piece, Gen. Paul Malong
remains under “unpronounced” house arrest, under unclear and
unexplained circumstances. At first, I thought it was just a political
misunderstanding that would be resolved in short time.

Yet, almost three months later, he remains in custody, without any
statement from your office or any other government apparatus/agency.
All communication channels with you have been gradually curtailed. The
last time I spoke to you Mr. President, you promised me that my
husband would not be harmed, and I took you by your word because I
believed that you are a man that stands by your words Mr. President.

But I should bring to your attention the fact that my husband is not
currently in good health, as I am also sure that you well know. He has
been having routine checkups and treatment both in Juba and Nairobi
over the time he has been working under your command.

Your Excellency, the conditions under which he is being held, the
tension surrounding his house arrest, the precariousness of his
current situation have all exacerbated his health. As I articulate
this, Gen. Paul Malong requires an urgent medical attention, and yet
he continues to be confined without access to his doctors, or any
other medical personnel.

Much as I had your guarantee that he would not be harmed, I must put
it to you Mr. President that denying Gen. Malong an access to his
doctors is in itself as gruesome and harmful as a bullet does. I
therefore appeal to your usual humanity and sense of correctness your
Excellency, please allow my husband to seek the medical help he
urgently needs, because it is the right thing to do to him and the
family at the moment.

As a wife who has not been so much in the public life that has
characterized my husband’s political and military services, I cannot
claim to know the political inner workings of J1. All I know is that
over the past year or so, your relationship with some of your closest
comrades since the struggle (Gen. Malong included) have slowly been
eroded. And even if one was to go by what has been circulated in the
press in recent months, that your friend and comrade Gen. Malong had a
sinister plot to overthrow the government.

I can categorically tell you Mr. President, that this is false
information meant to down-grade your relationship. My husband (Gen.
Malong) is a military man who worked diligently and exemplarily
throughout the struggle (closely with you), and even in recent years
when the current brutal civil war broke out. And I can assure you Sir;
my husband does not have any ill-intention towards your government
that he proudly calls his.

I understand that I am a biased party in this line of argument because
I am his wife but consider me on this line as a wife and a citizen of
your great nation too. I thus refer you to his service record Sir
especially when Gen. Malong (among others) brokered in the 2004 peace
in Rumbek to avoid the SPLM/SPLA split and disintegration for the love
of the people of then Southern Sudan and the present day South Sudan.

Throughout the struggle, throughout the arguments and disagreements
that occasionally happened within the SPLM, you can bear me witness
that Gen. Malong NEVER at any point, tried to sway the leadership of
the struggle towards his wishes. Why then would he attempt now when
the country is in a dire situation.

Your Excellency, with maximum respect, this brings a question to my
mind, Mr. President; “who among the people in the inner circle at J1
benefits from your misunderstandings with Gen. Malong, one of your
most trusted friends and comrades?”

You will admit Sir that it’s through the efforts of Gen. Malong that
there is some semblance of stability in Juba, that he was instrumental
in cushioning the rebellion when it broke out in Juba in 2013 and
throughout the whole time. And during that period, I am sure he has
not given you any reason to distrust him not now when the war
subsided.

My husband Gen. Malong remains a patriotic and loyal serviceman to our
nation and to you hence deserves to be treated humanely in accordance
with his record of services to our country. As a wife of a living
freedom fighter, my fear was losing him through the fighting that he
has witnessed and participated in over the years.

I didn’t think at any one time that he could survive all that and then
be left to die under confinement intentionally created to deny him
medical care…Mr. President will you be happy to see your friend and
comrade Gen. Malong dying that way because of distracters!

I write this with all the humbleness in my bones and blood, as a wife
appealing to Your Excellency and requesting, please permit my husband
to go for treatment because he urgently needs it. From my
conversations with him, Gen. Malong acknowledges the critical
situation that our people are living in, and understands the hard work
that is required to put our country back on its right footing.

And he had hoped to continue serving you and the nation as we forge a
way forward for our young nation. So, you can understand why a totally
innocent person would be taken by surprise when he was relieved of his
duties. However, Gen. Malong understands and recognizes the military
hierarchy and knows that it’s your constitutional prerogative as the
President and Commander-in-chief of the armed forces to appoint and
relieve your officers as you deem it fit.

To that effect, my husband understands the military protocol and I
assure you that he does not harbor any bad feelings for his removal.

It is my hope, as I suspect is the hope of my husband that when all
the unclear circumstances that have caused these misunderstandings are
finally ironed out, my husband can resume working with you at any
capacity and contributes toward rebuilding our politically fractured
Country. That is why I strongly appeal to you Mr. President to let my
husband out of confinement and allow him seek medical attention.

For all the time that my husband has been under your service Sir, he
has been able to contribute towards building the country that is now
South Sudan and for that I thank you for giving him the opportunity. I
thank you once again Your Excellency and I hope that my humble appeal
meets your kind consideration of the highest level.

The writer is a Student of Masters in Leadership and Governance from
University of Nairobi, and a wife to Gen. Paul Malong Awan, the former
Chief of General Staff of the SPLA, South Sudan. You can reach her via
her email: Ayak Malek <ayak...@gmail.com>

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