The former Governor of the Central Bank of South Sudan, Elijah Malok Aleng, has died, aged 77.

Mr Malok died in a Nairobi hospital yesterday after suffering from kidney failure.

Late Elijah Malok was born on 28^th of November 1937 in Thiong, East of Baidit in Bor Centre, Jonglei State.

He completed his secondary school studies at Juba Commercial Secondary School, and joined Free University in Zaire.

In 1972, he studied at the Catholic University of Fribourg in Switzerland and was awarded a Master’s Degree in Economics.  He was also awarded another Master’s Degree in Developmental Studies at Cambridge University in Britain in 1975.

Late Elijah Malok was a member of the Regional Assembly in Juba in 1982, and he was amongst the pioneers of the SPLM-SPLA who fought the 21-year war that led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011.

Late Malok started as one of the senior political commissars in June 1984, and then he went to join the Cadet Military College, graduating with the rank of a Major.

He was the SPLM Resident Representative in the Peoples’ Republic of the Congo, with non-residential representation in Zaire (now DRC), Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Rwanda, Burundi and Chad.

He was primarily stationed in Brazzaville, Congo, but travelled from time to time in the various capitals.

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, he was appointed President of the Bank of South Sudan and deputy governor for The Central Bank of Sudan.

Late Elijah Malok became the first Governor of the Central Bank of South Sudan after the independence in July 2011.

He is survived by his wife and many children.