Africa-Press – Liberia. Senator Prince Johnson further reacts to US Sanctions from his pulpit Senator Prince Johnson of Nimba County has disclosed that his support to President George Weah in 2017 “was for jobs and development projects” for his fellow Nimbaians and not pay as claimed by the U.S Government.
Sen. Johnson’s response is an addition to his response after being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for alleged acts of corruption and the sale of votes to presidential candidates including President George Weah and former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
“When I contested the 2017 Presidential election and I did not make it, I supported Mr. George weah, now President of Liberia, but we had an MoU signed after we left Nigeria,” Sen. Johnson remarked while preaching yesterday at his Church in Paynesville yesterday.
He added: “The MoU was signed by Weah and Me but his lawyer and my lawyer drafted this MoU. In this MoU, we have electricity, jobs, and scholarships for my party and the people of Nimba. Weah agreed to all and he is living up to this MoU.”
Displaying a two-sheet document, which he claimed to be the MOU, Sen. Johnson explained that politics is about interest and he has no regret for having entered into an agreement with the President for his people and Nimba County.
The Nimba County Senator noted that if supporting the President to get development for his people, which is now termed as selling votes, then he is willing more votes. He then added that it is foolhardy for anyone to think that there is a market for the sales of electoral votes.
“Where is the market? Let them show us then we will even be able to sell more votes for the benefits of our people,” Johnson bragged, noting that he will campaign for George Weah’s retention of the seat of President.
“The road from Ganta to the border with Ivory Coast is now being paved. There are development projects ongoing in Nimba simply because I entered into this MoU with Weah and his coalition,” he boasted. The Sanction
Of late, tensions between the U.S government and the Nimba County Senator have heightened and reached a breaking point when Washington condemned his election as Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security, Defense, Intelligence, and Veteran Affairs – digging up his warlord past.
And that tension has led to a statement from the U.S Treasury Department, claiming that Sen. Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment.
It says that Senator Jonson and the power that is from the administration of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to President George Weah have laundered millions of U.S. dollars in the pay-for-play funding scheme.
“As a Senator, Johnson has been involved in pay-for-play funding with government ministries and organizations for personal enrichment,” the U.S Department of Treasury said in a statement. As part of the scheme, upon receiving funding from the Government of Liberia (GOL), the involved government ministries and organizations launder a portion of the funding for the return to the involved participants.
“The pay-for-play funding scheme involves millions of U.S. dollars. Additionally, Johnson receives an undeserved salary from the GOL as a salaried intelligence ‘source’, yet he does not provide any form of intelligence reporting to the GOL; Johnson is reportedly being paid in order to maintain domestic stability. Johnson has also offered the sale of votes in multiple Liberian elections in exchange for money,” added the Treasury.
Sen. Johnson is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13818 for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official, or a person acting for or on behalf of such an official, who is responsible for or complicit in or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.
Johnson Gets Support Meanwhile, a former top aide to ex-President Charles Taylor, John T. Richardson, has condemned the U.S sanction against Senator Johnson and termed it as arbitrary and unilateral discriminatory.
“As a victim in the past of US arbitrary and unilateral discriminatory sanctions, I am surprised by the silence of our political actors on the recent action taken against Senator Prince Y. Johnson,” said Richardson. “Our subconscious fear of the US inhibits our ability to garner the support; even if through sympathy, of one of Liberia’s largest vote-getters.”
Richardson added that the accusations from the U.S government are unsubstantiated and lack credence and suggested that the US itself is voting in Liberia’s elections. “You say they bring money, but isn’t that then buying votes,” he wonders.
“Political parties are about popular alliances and not human rights institutions. Yesterday it was Charles Taylor who is being penalized far greater than those who were actually indicted as the main perpetrators, then Varney Sherman after OUR Liberian courts had acquitted him. Now it’s Prince Johnson and once again our aspiring leaders and their institutions tremble in silence. What a cowardly shame,” Richardson wrote a message to the Daily Observer.
Ellen Support Elsewhere, Sen. Johnson has disclosed that in the case of former President Sirleaf, he had no official MOU but there was an agreement in principle that informed his decision to support her in the 2005 and 2011 Presidential elections.
“In the case of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, we did not sign the MoU but she sent Cllr. Pearl Brown Bull, a renowned lawyer to me, and we agreed in principle on employing my people and taking development to Nimba. I campaigned for her to win and she won. Why the detractors by then didn’t come out and accuse me of selling votes?” he asked rhetorically.
Senator Johnson added that it is baseless for anyone to accuse him of receiving money from government ministries and agencies for any business as he is a Legislator and is not in the security sector to do any intelligence service for the government, or anyone else.
“I am not a security man anymore. I have never worked at any other ministries in my entire life,” the Senator said. “I don’t have control over the budget, nothing. If you say I’m corrupt, be specific. We are all imperfect and imperfect cannot exhibit perfection but tell the truth, don’t lie to me.”
He acknowledged the cordial relationship between Liberia and America but admonished that the U.S. government should do its fact-finding appropriately, rather than listening to naysayers who want to see him destroyed at all cost, even if there is no reason to show.
“We have been working with all ambassadors of the U.S. assigned to Liberia. We have served as the third deputy speaker at the ECOWAS Parliament and in the course of time, we worked with the UN, the U.S., all other foreign powers, and even the African Union. We have never been put on a UN travel ban,” he said. Johnson said he is surprised that the U.S. has placed a sanction on him but he is not deterred because he knows that he is a free man.
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