Controversial Nimba County Senator Prince has announced his support for the Presidential bid of Liberia’s former Vice President Joseph Boakai.
Senator Jonson said his decision to support VP Boakai is due to bad governance under the Weah-led administration.
Addressing a press conference in Monrovia Friday, April 21, 2023, the two-term Nimba senator who also seeking re-election said he stands with the Unity Party standard bearer no matter who is selected as his running mate.
“if he chooses Cummings, we will support him, if he chooses Koung we will support him,” Senator Johnson said when replying to a question about the possibility of Mr. Boakai picking Senator Jeremiah Koung who is regarded as a political to him as his running mate.
The Movement for Reconstruction and Democracy Governing Council Chair said the opposition community will rally behind anyone who meets President Mr. Weah in the second round of the election.
He called on the people of Nimba to support his decision, while describing an alleged threat by the government to dismiss appointed officials of Nimba if they do not support the CDC in the pending election as a front to the County.
“I urged all of those appointees of government haling from Nimba to stand firm, Nimba will defend you don’t be afraid. Yesterday, there was a meeting that lasted for hours they are trying to get to me but I can’t support them” he noted.
The controversial senator termed his kinsmen who are supporting Weah under the banner Nimba for Weah as people who are after President Weah’s money noting that they lack the impetus to decide which side the county goes in 2023.
Poor economic leadership
The Nimba County also took off time to blast President for not doing enough to improve the economic condition of the people of Liberia,
Senator Johnson accused the Weah administration of keeping money that was printed to be infused into the economy for electioneering activities.
Senator Johnson alleged that the government is yet to change the old currency despite printing 64 billion Liberian dollars to have the money change.
He explained that just as Representative Thomas Fallah was rejected in 2020 despite spending millions of Liberians Dollars, President Weah, and the CDC will also be beaten.
Lots of innocent lives lost
Senator Johnson also accused the Weah administration of presiding over government-sponsored killings of innocent people including Gifty Lama an LRA employee who was found dead in a car on Broad Street in Central Monrovia along with her co-worker Albert Peters on October 2, 2020.
They were said to have died of “carbon monoxide poisoning exacerbated by gasoline/hydrocarbon fumes and fumes from defective car exhaust system/defect in the floor of the car by pathologists.
“Gifty was a precious daughter-in-law of the people Nimba, a decent woman, she was not a prostitute. If she wanted to have sex, she would have done it in some of these good hotels, but not in the car. Her death along with other unexplained deaths cannot allow me to support Mr. Weah” he asserted.
The Nimba County lawmaker alarmed over the increased wave of drugs in Liberia and accused the government of being aware of the proliferation of drugs in the country.
Referencing the recently arrested 100 million worth of cocaine, Senator Johnson noted it is completely impossible for such huge drugs to enter the country without the knowledge of senior government officials.
How important is PJY
Since the end of the Liberian civil war, the former warlord has established himself as a sought-after politician in Liberia. He has won two elections as a Senator while deciding all three post-war Presidential elections. Thanks to a huge population of his kinsmen who have been loyal to him.
In 2005 and 2011 he supported former Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who defeat former football star George Weah and former Liberia special representative to the United Nations Special Representative to Somalia Winston Tubman.
In 2017 he supported Mr. Weah against former Vice President Joseph Boakai.
His relationship with President Weah has been bitter since Mr. Weah accused him of blackmailing him to get money. Both were involved in war of the words which led to the intervention of the Liberia Council of churches.
It is unclear how far he will go with his support to the former Vice President given his unpredictable nature, but Unity Party people and supporters of the former Vice President can celebrate the arrival of one big political fish.
