A senatorial aspirant for Nimba County Taa Wongbe says incumbent Senator Prince Yormie Johnson of Nimba is a victim of unnecessary attacks from Liberians in the wake of calls for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court for the country.
Senator Johnson is leader of the disbanded Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) rebels that killed President Samuel Kanyon Doe on September 09, 1990 at the Freeport of Monrovia during the heat of the Liberian Civil War.He is recommended for prosecution by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission along with several other key actors of the civil crises.
But Mr. Wongbe observes that political actors in Liberia are creating a scenario that Sen. Johnson is already guilty before any formal indictment for his role in the 14-year conflict ahead of the establishment of said court, something, he says is unfair.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, October 09, at his office in Fiamah, Monrovia, Wongbe, who seeks his county’s senatorial seat in the 2020 Special Senatorial Election thru the opposition Alternative National Congress party argues that his kinsman Sen. Johnson was not the only actor in the war, but Liberians keep pointing accusing fingers at him.Recently, River Gee County Senator Conmany Wesseh told PYJ to take full responsibility for the murder of Doe, and stop involving the people of Nimba or bragging that he defended them thru his actions.
However, Wongbe counters that Senator Johnson also played a humanitarian role during war years, recounting that former rebel leader rescued and protected over 300 Liberian children and had food cheaper on his Caldwell base, outside Monrovia.He continues that the leader of the former INPFL ensured that vault of the formerly National Bank of Liberia, now the Central Bank of Liberia was kept intact.
According to him, many Liberians, including former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, businessman Benoni Urey, Grand Gedeh County Representative George Borley, among others were key players, but Liberians refuse to name them in the establishment of the court.
He claims that indeed, the people of Nimba were redeemed by forces loyal to the former Field Marshall, PYJ.
Commenting on the current proposition on dual citizenship, he welcomes the ideal but cautions, there should be restrictions on high profile positions in government, including the Presidency and Vice Presidency, Chief Justice and Associate Justices, Speaker and Senate President Pro-Tempore, among others.
On his quest for the senate, Wongbe says he has been engaged with the people of his native Nimba and building political blocks, ahead of next year’s poll, in which he is poised to face incumbent Thomas Grupee and Representative Jeremiah Koung along with other aspirants. By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor
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