MONROVIA – Senator Prince Johnson has said the recent United States Embassy statement of allegations against his person as a corrupt official hugely benefiting from government funds through a pay-for-play scheme with government ministries is laughable and politically driven.
The United States Embassy near Monrovia last week claimed that the Nimba County senator is being paid in order to maintain domestic stability through a pay-for play scheme.
The United States Embassy further alleged that Senator Johnson receives an undeserved salary from the Liberian government as a salaried intelligence “source” though he does not provide any form of intelligence reporting to the government.
But the Nimba County senator has rebuffed the allegations, describing it as a shock and has no specifics. “Never in my life have I been able to head any government agency or a ministry. I have never received any money from any government agency or ministry to provide intelligence,” Senator Johnson said.
“I am not responsible for the provision to the government, Senator Johnson added. Senator Johnson, who chaired the Senate’s Committee on Intelligence and Defense, said such committee doesn’t receive finance or budgetary allocation from government. “The Intelligence Committee of the Senate is just for oversight like ordinary committees in the Senate. “The information posted on the Embassy’s website that I received money from government ministries and entities is false and misleading,” he said.
On allegations that he sold votes in multiple elections dating as far back as 2005 to 2017 in exchange for money, Senator Johnson, who has won two nine-year term in vote-rich Nimba County, again denied the allegations, terming it as a misrepresentation of his overwhelming influence in the county.
He said his support for candidates in previous presidential elections had been based on job employments and scholarships for kinsmen which are normally enshrined through a Memorandum of Understanding.
“Politics is interest. I have never sold votes in exchange for financial dividends but instead I have negotiated with presidential aspirants for scholarships and job opportunities for my people. In the current government of President George Weah, through such the negotiation we had during the run-off presidential election in 2017, Nimba County has over 11 persons who are deputy ministers and assistant ministers,” he said.
“Also, sixty five percent of the local appointments in Nimba County were done with my consent. That was why we negotiated with President Weah.”
Bringing the United States election that saw the emergence of Joe Biden as president, Senator Johnson said: “Former United States of America president Barack Obama supported Joe Biden in the election, so, the Embassy should claim that Obama “paid-to-pay”?
Senator Johnson, best known around the world for ordering the 1990 torture and murder of then-President Samuel Doe, has emerged as one of the most important political players in Liberia’s body politics.