By MV Paasewe
The United States Treasury Department in December 2021 placed Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson on its Magnitsky sanctions for large-scale corruption involving an alleged elaborate electoral pay-for-play scheme. And as Liberia heads for a crucial presidential election in which President Weah is bent on snatching a second term, recent revelations from Senator Johnson sort of confirm the Treasury Department’s indictment, exposing the underhanded dealings of key players of the Weah regime as well as a former Minister who was also recently indicted for massive corruption under Magnitsky.
“As a senator, Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment,” a statement issued by the U.S. embassy had said at the time. “As part of the scheme, upon receiving funding from the government of Liberia, the involved government ministries and organizations launder a portion of the funding for return to the involved participants.”
According to the US Treasury Department indictment, Senator Johnson also receives an undeserved salary from the Liberian government as a salaried intelligence source yet he does not provide any form of intelligence reporting, alleged the U.S. statement. He is being paid in order to maintain domestic stability, according to the statement. “Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money,” the statement continued.
Against the backdrop of these developments, Senator Johnson and his Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR) party have disengaged from the political arrangement that saw his camp supporting former soccer icon Weah and his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) in the 2017 elections. The MDR denouncement of its marriage of convenience with the CDC also follows Senator Johnson relinquishing the standard bearer position of his party to his fellow Nimba County senator Jeremiah Koung, who is now gunning for the Liberian presidency, challenging a Weah second term bid.
But the CDC is not taking chances and has released its full arsenal of top government officials and party functionaries to come a-begging Johnson to ground arms, disallow Senator Koung from challenging President Weah, and avoid dividing the crucial Nimba County vote.
In a startingly revealing Voice of America (VOA) interview over the weekend, Senator Johnson said top officials of the Weah government met with him to dissuade him for challenging the incumbent at the October 2023 polls.
“They are saying no, we should not run, we should support Mr. Weah, and that if we do, it will be an affront to Mr. Weah. And we said, we are a party registered under the laws of this country, and our support from 2017 October ended October 2022; so, there is no more document binding. This year, we have observed that what we expected in the past is not we see on the ground,” Johnson reportedly told President Weah’s emissaries who included Finance Minister Samuel Tweah, former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Nathaniel McGill, CDC Chairman Mulbah Morlu, Professor Wilson Tarpeh, Labor Minister Charles Gibson, among many others.
“We had believed, as well as the Liberian people believed, that being the world best, African best, all of the best; that his election would have attracted investors to Liberia to create jobs and alleviate the suffering of our people through the investment and employment. But since his election, the world has abandoned us in the sense that no investors are coming. What we are doing in the country is just ratifying loan agreements all the time. We cannot build a country based on loans and internal revenue. We need private sector. So, things are very difficult in the country. The unemployment rate is escalating. So, there is nothing encouraging to give Mr. Weah second term. That’s why we decided to quit,” Senator Johnson justified his action to disengagement from the CDC.
Explaining further, Senator Johnson said while there is some level of development under the Weah administration, the high rate of unemployment is a major concern.
“Investors are not on the ground to provide jobs that will alleviate the suffering of our people; jobs to put food on the table; jobs to help our people. Those university graduates every year have no jobs; their degrees are hanging on the walls; and it continues to increase the level of unemployment,” Johnson lamented.
When he was queried by VOA about how the Liberian people continue to accuse him of selling Nimba County votes for money; and that some are saying, as an influential Senator of Nimba County, he is only making all this noise because he wants the government to give him more money, Senator Johnson cheekily responded: “That’s what I hear people saying, but they are on the wrong side of history. That is not my nature. I don’t know of any market where they sell votes.”
Pundits are of the strongest conviction that Senator Johnson’s meeting with influential members of the Weah government and the CDC hierarchy could be a last-ditch attempt to rein in Senator Johnson who might succumb to the pressure and live up to the Magnitsky sanction pay-for-play indictment of Nimba County’s chief postwar votes influencer.
“Samuel Tweah holds the purse that will hook Senator Johnson, who might be making all the noise for the endgame. Tweah’s presence in that meeting was an affirmation of any agreement that would have been reached. But we should also consider the fact that it is Senator Johnson who disclosed the outcome of that meeting to the public. No doubt, PYJ is mercurial, but perhaps, just maybe, he is being sincere this time around. With that being the case, the October election this year will be so interesting,” a key stalwart of one of the ruling CDC triumvirate parties informed PUNCH.
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MV Paasewe is the current Managing Editor of PUNCH FM/TV and www.punchliberia.com. He is an accomplished writer, editor and a stickler for details.
