Former Nimba County’s district #7 Representative and former Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, Atty. Worlea Saywah Dunah, has warned Senator Prince Y. Johnson and his Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction (MDR) team to desist from marketing the people of Nimba for their self benefits at the detriment of the Nimba population.
The former Nimba lawmaker, a stalwart of the former ruling Unity Party (UP) now opposition party, made the statement Thursday, January 26, 2023 in Monrovia in a press conference. This is Atty. Dunah’s first public statement on Senator Johnson’s claim of advocating for the people of Nimba since he returned from the United States of America.
“Let the word go forth to all political parties that the people of Nimba, like all parts of Liberia, are to be persuaded during the period of campaign and are not packaged goods or market wares whose owners are called the MDR,” Dunah stated.
The former House’s Judiciary Committee Chairman urged presidential parties to engage the Nimba people directly during campaign time as it relates to their platform, instead of listening to one MDR and Prince Johnson. According to him, MDR, with only three members of the Nimba legislative caucus out of the twelve membership, cannot uprightly claim ownership of the county.
For the records, Atty. Dunah revealed that 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. He told reporters during the press conference that MDR in 2018 instigated the removal of all Nimba local government officials, including city mayors, district commissioners, township commissioners, paramount and clan chiefs, city councilors in Nimba County and replaced them with MDR partisans in fulfillment of its marriage terms with the ruling political outfit. Furthermore, the former lawmaker claimed that all of the MDR slots in government, including cabinet positions, are filled solely with its partisans. Dunah wondered whether those who were occupying the local positions in the county are not Nimbaians.
Moreover, the UP stalwart questioned Senator Johnson and his MDR to make public the agreement between the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and MDR in 2017 that speaks of jobs for Nimba people. He requested Senator Johnson to also tell the public the names of Nimba citizens he recommended in government and how much benefits in cash or services he received from the ruling establishment over the past five years.
He emphasized that Senator Johnson’s advocacy for Nimba money from the government is not realistic because Senator Johnson has been chairman of the caucus for the past five years. He encouraged the senator to be more focused on his reelection bid, which he said looks challenging for him. Accordingly, Dunah underscored that he will be a major player in the national politics as well as Nimba politics.