Nimba County Representative Samuel Kogar, the man desiring to replace late Senate PYJ, says he wants to fulfill the late senator’s dreams.
By: Wise Wesseh
Nimba, Liberia, February 7, 2025 – “I, Samuel Kogar, will contest the Senatorial by-election,” says Representative Samuel Kogar upon his return to the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction. The MDR is the political party of the late Senator Prince Yormie Johnson, who died in late November 2024 at 72.
Rep. Kogar of Nimba County District #5 declared his intention to go to the Senate on Wednesday.
Addressing a ceremony marking his return to the MDR, where he began his political journey in 2011, Rep. Kogar said he had returned home to fulfill the wishes and aspirations of fallen Senator PYJ.
“I want to make it categorically clear here that I’m not joining MDR because Senator Johnson is dead. I’m joining MDR because when Senator Johnson was still alive, he invited me to join the party, and I’m returning to fulfill his will”, Kogar declares.
The late Senator Johnson completed two 9-year terms in the Liberian Senate and served his third term when he succumbed to death in 2024.
Since his demise, there have been horse races by several sons and daughters of Nimba, expressing interest in replacing him in the senate and continuing his legacy.
Speaking to a gathering of MDR supporters, Rep. Kogar confirms that he will contest the poll if the National Elections Commission schedules the by-election to fill the seat left behind by the late PYJ.
He explains that irrespective of life, before a person dies, when he or she has children and properties, a Will is prepared, detailing how such properties are to be shared, adding, “So when Senator Johnson was alive, he invited me to join the part,y and I have returned to the MDR to fulfill the Will of former Senator Johnson.”
“Senator Johnson’s invitation to me to join the party is considered a Will, and I must fulfill it.” He maintains.
At the same time, he urges partisans of the MDR to unite and rebuild the party while pleading with colleagues and former partisans who left the party to return and galvanize a strong, vibrant political dimension that has the country’s future.
“When you are in opposition, you are a government in waiting, so we need to practice like we are a government and respect everybody in the party.”
“I’ve come to encourage partisans that left the party to return home, including former Representatives Gonpuu Kargon, Garrison Yealue, Jr., and the list goes on, to come home and let build the MDR in unison,” he pleads.
MDR chairman, Cllr. Cooper W. Kruah welcomes Rep. Kogar and re-echoes that the party continues its marriage or collaboration with the ruling Unity Party (UP).
“I’ve come here to state the MDR’s position on the future of this country, and I want to state the MDR will support President Boakai for 12 years”, Cllr. Kruah, who is Minister of Labor in the current administration, re-affirms.
President Joseph Boakai chose current Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung from the MDR as his running mate during the 2023 elections. Editing by Jonathan Browne
