By William Madouk
Former mayor of Juba City, Kalisto Ladu Faustino (pictured), was last seen on Saturday night, 30th March 2024, before allegedly being clobbered and nabbed by security personnel.
His arrest attracted wide condemnation from many institutions in the country and outside with members of the National Legislative Assembly, joining suit.
Ann Boutros, an MP representing Lainya County on the SPLM-IO ticket at the national parliament, said Kalisto’s case has become complicated due to two conflicting statements from the police and his family.
“The issue of Kalisto has been complicated since the police report says he has been released, but the family is saying no,” she said.
According to the lawmaker, the parliament ought to make its stance known to the public over the ex-mayor’s matter.
“So, what is our stance as the parliament? Our position should be very clear, so that when we are asked by our citizens, we will give them clear information,” she added.
In response, the Speaker of the august house, Rt. Hon. Jemma Nun Kumba directed this matter to be taken up by the House’s specialized committee on security and public order to follow up on Kalisto and money changers’ arbitrary arrests.
“The information that is given is all about important issues that a relevant committee can follow up on—get the information and then report it to us—and the committee on security and public order can follow up on the two, the Kalisto and the arbitrary arrest of money changers,” speaker Nunu ruled.
Besides, the police spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Daniel Justin, when contacted by No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper, said that it is social media that’s boiling things up, but in actuality, the police don’t know Kalisto’s whereabouts.
“We have been telling our clear position in that one—he [Kalisto] is not with us, and the social media is talking about national security,” said Maj. Gen. Justin.
“The NSS has a spokesperson whom you can contact to give you details on whether he is there and on what charges,” the police spokesman continued.
He explained that “there was no case open in the police station’ but it’s learned later on that the wife opened a case at the Northern Division police station, and “We are investigating every piece of information as to who saw him last and all these.”
“So far, the investigation is confidential, so who doesn’t talk about what we are doing in regard to this?” Gen. Justin noted.
But he earlier informed local media that Kalisto was released—a statement he later disputed, citing that he was only referring to information he obtained from social media.
When contacted, David John Kumuri, NSS Director of Public Relations, Internal Security Bureau, could not answer several phone calls or respond to text messages by press time to confirm whether Kalisto is under NSS detention.
Though all accusing fingers are pointing toward the National Security Services’ direction, the NSS has been quiet since, leaving a room for doubt and fear of Kalisto’s whereabouts.
Earlier, Ann Grace, a wife to Kalisto, said that she received a phone call from her husband at 11:30 PM on the night of Saturday, March 30th, telling her to open the gate for him.
Her children had already retired to bed, but she was doing laundry. She had to rush to the gate to attend to her husband, only to be shocked.
“I immediately saw the car of Kalisto, and men in uniform surrounded him,” she said, adding that suspected security personnel pulled the former mayor from his car at gunpoint,” she told the City Review.
“I [froze] and could not cry or even call for help,” she recalled in a choking voice.
According to Juan, her husband was intercepted by three cars, one belonging to the army, and two other unregistered Toyota cars—one of them a Noah.