PYJ alleges exclusion in VP talks

By Lincoln G. Peters

Sources say Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson is thinking of re-uniting with the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) because he is being excluded from Amb. Joseph Nyumah Boakai’s negotiation to pick Jeremiah Koung as running mate.

“I will tell the people of Nimba not to vote him if he continues what he is doing. We had discussion and he is now deviating from the conversion for a position that he has not obtained. This is complete disrespect, not just to me, the party, but to the people of Nimba,” a source quotes Johnson as saying.

It is reported that Senator Johnson wants to know what will be the benefit of Nimba County, MDR and his personal benefit.

While Senator Johnson is said to be agitating, sources say he has refused to disclose what exactly are the demands that he wants Amb. Boakai to commit to.

Koung recently succeeded Johnson as political leader of the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), and the latter appeared to have engineered the push for Boakai to pick his kinsman as running mate.

However, Senator Johnson he is said to have threatened to expel Senator Koung from the party and instruct Nimbaians not to vote him when he is handpicked as running mate to Amb. Boakai in the upcoming presidential and legislative elections.

Mr. Boakai, Liberia’s former vice president, is yet to declare his running mate for the October 2023 presidential and legislative elections, but Koung and Grand Bassa County Senator Nyoblee Karnga-Lawrence are top candidates for the slot.

Our sources have hinted that Senators Koung and Johnson are now in a beef following a serious disagreement that allegedly aroused from the latter’s feeling of exclusion from ongoing negotiations with Amb. Boakai.

According to our sources, the sour relationship between the two Nimba leaders has transcended to their followers who are now alleged to see each others as rivals.

Some insiders are concerned that this might be a great deal against the opposition Unity Party (UP) efforts to form a unity ticket that has a strong root in a vote-rich county like Nimba.

There are allegations that Koung and Boakai are now holding talks unilaterally without Johnson’s involvement.

“Before Amb. Boakai could decide on Senator Jeremiah Koung, I had negotiation with him here and we also concluded the consultation in Ghana,” a source quoted Senator Johnson as saying. 

“I also told Amb. Boakai about some documents and conditions that he needs to commit himself [to]. However, he has not done that. But, disappointingly, Amb. Boakai and Koung are having conversation and discussions without my involvement,” the source alleged further.

Senator Johnson is alleged to make a claim that he is being excluded from every and all conversation because Amb. Boakai does not want to do what he had asked him to do.

“What I am hearing is that Senator Koung has been told by Amb. Boakai and other UP partisans to forget about me and the entire party and contest with Amb. Boakai since I am giving [him] hard time. That’s why they have excluded me,” Johnson is reported as saying.

He claimed that the Unity Party has emboldened Koung with the believe that he has the crowd and the number, and that Johnson cannot take that from him. 

“However, I like to warn him that they are deceiving [him] because I make him and I can break him,’’ the source quoted Senator Johnson.

“He was told that he has the crowd, but he should also be informed that I made him and it takes me nothing to break him,’’ Sources have further quoted Senator Johnson.