The hard fall of Gen. Paul Malong Awan
Article
Comments (0)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
By Kharubino Kur Bol
The fall of Gen. Paul Malong from the corridors of power to the house
arrest perfectly illustrated in an apophthegm saying, “the bigger they
are, they harder the fall”. Malong was not just a powerful military
figure but he was believed to be the de facto President of South
Sudan. His relationship with the President Salva Kiir can be dated
back 30 years ago. Rumours have it that the once powerful Gen. had
once swaggered about his close ties with the President, “I am in
Kiir’s throat, he can’t swallow me nor vomit me out; we are
intertwined” brags Malong.
However, his untimely fall left a lot to be desired and we all look
forward to seeing pathologists coming out to tell the country the
postmortem results of the dead ‘intertwined relationship.’ Ho yes!
Amb. Telar Deng was the government’s chief pathologist who was sent to
Malong in Yirol. Can you please tell us something?
Speculatively, the Malong’s superiority complex is what caused the
death of the intertwined relationship. If there was a great paradox in
Kiir’s government, don’t think of Micheal Makuei, it is Gen. Malong.
He embodied what government supporters need and what they don’t need.
He calls the people with equal ease he charms them to support the
government. He influenced major presidential decrees; he fixed his
people in every angle of the government and commands huge followers
than Kiir within Dinka tribe. He walked out of Freedom Hall in protest
when President Kiir signed Compromised Peace Agreement in 2015. He
accepts the truth and rejects false. He talks black and white. He is a
no nonsense man.
With that charisma, Malong didn’t know that he has broken law number
one of the 48 commandments of power by Robert Greene. In his book
called “48 laws of power”, law number one says “don’t outshine your
master”. He outshone the President and he got sacked.
In his recent portfolio as an army chief, an influential position that
some Generals used to breach the constitution and ascend to the
presidency by coup, Malong didn’t strictly stand on the side of law,
but stood against anyone who sought to take political capital through
bullet, stood against anyone who sought to kill the citizens and
abrogate the constitution. Though he almost brought to an end the
rebellion of Riek --- and indeed blamed the rebellion. President Kiir
undeservingly humiliated him at the wrong time on illogical
accusations concocted by gossipmongers.
To be fair, Gen. Malong was not everyone’s cup of tea. He is a
ruthless military leader who believes that the war is fairly won on
the battlefield rather on the negotiation table. And this belief earns
him thousands of supporters. The gossipmongers accused him of
overflowing ego, Presidential ambition and offensive management of
power. However, with that rank (LT GEN.) of his and his previous
experiences in politics, he is already in politics and politics
doesn’t often go without ego and ambition. Less than that, you are
ordinary. They also accused him of overstretching his hands’ farer
then they were meant to be, and biting off more than he can chew.
Leave it or take it, Malong has won the admiration of much South
Sudanese especially when he heeded the calls of his friends and the
hoi polloi to return to Juba. This is a rare demonstration of
statesmanship. Though he was ignominiously neutered by the President
and intimidated by some junior officers, Malong accepted to come to
Juba for the interest of South Sudanese irrespective of their tribes
and political affiliations. With his unabated leadership aplomb,
Malong didn’t lambast the government for placing him under house
arrest nor did he forcefully demand his release to go for medication
in abroad. He is just suffering in a silent mode.
Don’t shoot the messenger—I am just telling you the truth. Malong Awan
is not AWAN. Malong knows “LONG”; he stands and lives by “law”. He is
not as sly as fox; he knows the law as Chan Reech Madut. He is a good
and honourable man. He is temperate and thoughtful. He is not a power
hungry dude. His demeanour shows a man who understands the laws and
can’t misuse the army to advance his political interest___ which I
believed he has none. He doesn’t throw bombs or speak haphazardly and
his recent serenity not to respond to reckless and antagonising
statements uttered several times by the government against him bears
the witness.
As a soldier, he is a follower of Sun Tzu, a famous Chinese military
strategist who taught his followers to choose their fights carefully;
Know whom they are fighting and why. And know their options in the
fight. Therefore, Malong didn’t choose to fight and that is why he
returned to Juba in defiance of all odds.
His exit of Juba had shaken the whole nation to the core and put all
people in panic. But the patriotic Malong was not scheming for
rebellion but to let the country know that the President is being held
hostage by the gossipmongers and he is running the country under their
influences. It is crystal clear now that the witch’s brew of gossiping
in J1 will sooner than later throws South Sudan into the abyss.
On 12th May, President Kiir unwittingly accepted that he embraces the
rumours more than realities. “I was receiving reports about Malong
almost every hour of people telling me things which I knew Malong was
not doing. This was becoming a routine talk and it was like I was not
listening to them” Kiir cacophonously added “I made the changes
because I wanted to see what the people coming with reports about him
will have to say again”
This misbegotten practice by our politicians to gossip against their
colleagues to register their allegiances and trust of the President is
primaeval politics of 21st century. But it is the perceived reality in
SPLM. Gen. Malong was sacked by the President because of this kind of
politicking. This gossipy political screed will set this nation into
precipice if the President doesn’t discard it soon. However, the
President seems loath to learn from his astronomical blunders of
embracing gossiping. He drops a clanger after a clanger and learns
nothing. The blunders of 2013 should have served as his lessons.
In conclusion, today Gen. Malong is two months old in Juba under house
arrest since he returned from Yirol. It is now upon President Kiir to
genuinely reconcile with Malong, forgets the past and moves on or
keeps Malong under house arrest till he sneaks out of Juba and uses
his detention as an accused for launching a rebellion. It is true that
in politics, there is no friend but an ally; President Kiir should
bring Malong back into government teach him table manners.
The writer is reachable via [email protected]
--
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob
View this message at
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"South Sudan Info - The Kob" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14orK%2BKXRhR3PB-AVih8jQSvJqVYAs%3D7D5UG%2Bsa_V9DmK8Q%40mail.gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
