Treat sanctioned officials alike
--Group pleads with NEC over certification rumors
By Emmanuel wise Jipoh
The head of a group calling itself Liberians Deserve Better (LDB), Mother Welmont Lloyd, has appealed to the National Elections Commission to certify all elected officials, including those on sanctions for the same crimes.
Madam Lloyd said the NEC should not be partial in certifying a few individuals who are of the same crimes and leave out others.
The group alleged that it received rumors that Margibi County Senator-elect Nathaniel McGill and River Cess Senator-elect Bill Twehway would not be certified due to their links to corruption that resulted in the U.S. sanctioning them.
However, the group claimed that unlike McGill and Twehway, Nimba County Senator-elect Prince Y. Johnson who is also on U.S. sanctions, is due to be certificated.
Ahead of the certification ceremony due Friday, 7 December 2023, Madam Lloyd and her group stormed the grounds of the Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission (LACC), as well as NEC in a protest.
During the protest, they called on the electoral body to halt the certification of Senator-elect Prince Y. Johnson.
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The group specifically attacked Senator Johnson for multiple war-time crimes he allegedly committed, saying he doesn’t deserve to be certificated as a senator.
They carried banners with different inscriptions. Some of them read: “Reject Prince Y. Johnson, he’s a murderer. Prince Johnson has blood on his hands. No warlord deserves power.”
“Prince Johnson is corrupt and must be rejected. He’s a killer, does not certificate him,” they added.
The group noted that their protest was a plea for the Commission to ensure equal rights in the certification for those elected during the 10 October 2023 Presidential and Legislative elections.
Madam Lloyd noted that their concern was based on whispers that the NEC is due to certify those elected during the October elections and that others who won seats including McGill Twehway, would be denied certification.
She said the group wants all those elected to be certificated or all those in the same category of corruption should be denied certification.
“We are here seeking justice, if they cannot certificate Nathaniel McGill and Bill Twehway, they should not certificate Prince Johnson since Liberia deserves better,” Madam Lloyd said.
“If we want a straight line to change things, those involved in killing, corruption, public crimes, should not be certificated, since we want a better Liberia,” she added.
