Monrovia — Nimba County Electoral District #7 former Representative Worlea Saywah Dunah has called on the Liberian government, Partners and international stakeholders not deal with Senator Prince Johnson in the name of the County.
Speaking at a news conference in Monrovia, Thursday, January 26, the former lawmaker said the Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR), which Senator Johnson heads, is a national political party that forms part of the current government has repeatedly assumed onto itself the powers to speak for all of the people of Nimba County in its current wrangling within the ruling alliance headed by the Coalition for Democratic Change.
Mr. Dunah, a stalwart of the former ruling Unity Party indicated that, the MDR, a minor partner in the coalition, has expressed grievances but to the extent and degree to which it has falsely claimed to represent all of the people of Nimba County has warranted corrections and clarifications as under the Constitution of 1986 political parties are to be national and not county based and constructed.
"Strangely too and in poignant self-contradiction too, the MDR has announced that is has left the ruling political aggregation yet it remains in the government.
"We strongly condemn the MDR claims in their internal squabbles as dangerous politicking which historically has brought troubles to the development focused and peace-loving people of our county.
"For the records, the MDR has been consistently seeking only the welfare of its partisans and not the people of Nimba over the past five years with abundant evidence. Firstly, the MDR in 2018 instigated the removal all Nimba local government officials including City Majors, District Commissioners, Township Commissioners, Paramount and Clan Chiefs, City Councilors in Nimba County and replaced them with their partisans in fulfilment of its marriage terms with the ruling political outfit; second, all of the MDR slots in government including cabinet positions are filled solely with its partisans," Mr. Dunah said.
Mr. Dunah also alleged that, it is widely known that the MDR founder, Senator Johnson, has strenuously resisted the appointment in government of all other competent Nimbains who are not their partisans, it is a 'national joke' that job seekers have to take membership and worship at his church.
According to him, it is important to note that on Sunday, November 20 barely ten months to the 2023 elections Senator Johnson issued a Press Statement that he and the MDR Party have suddenly realized that the government has failed to give jobs to Nimbains! He says that Nimbains have not been appointed in the government in violation of an agreement the MDR entered allegedly on behalf of Nimba people five years ago.
"We demand Senator Johnson and his MDR to immediately publicize that purported secret agreement which allegedly says "Nimbains will be appointed in government" because we know it was a MDR deal," he stated.
He explains that these facts do not represent dominance as any decision in the Nimba Caucus is by majority vote which the MDR does not have.
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"We resist the fact that the MDR is engaged in such dangerous politicking using our great county as a bargaining chip for its political advantage and for the personal gratifications of its founder. The MDR and its leadership must immediately cease the blatant auctioneering of Nimba votes from one political party to another - Nimba votes are not in the bag of the MDR.
"This totally embarrassing and shameless charade for selfish reasons must stop as it cast the people of Nimba as commodities owned by the MDR with rights to sell to the highest bidder when the fact is that as the most developed part of the Liberia the people of Nimba knows how to make decisions on national leadership," he added.
