Liberia: PYJ, Rep. Suacoco Dennis, Beef over War Crimes

Nimba County Senator, Evangelist Prince Y. Johnson, has vowed to campaign against the reelection  of Montserrado County Electoral District # 4, Rep. Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis, in the pending 2023 elections, for calling him "murderer and a disgrace."

Johnson said he will appeal to the Nimba Kwado community, one of the biggest communities in Dennis' electoral district, not to vote for her as payback for what he describes as "her insolence".

“If you attack me, you think the people of Nimba will vote for you? I will say no. Instead, kick her out. Anyone who is a leader and is an enemy of progress, vote them out," Johnson said. “Dennis is ‘doomed’ and that she’s destined to lose in the 2023 elections for attacking an ordained and anointed  Man of God. I am an ordained man of God, so anyone who attacks me, you’re doomed politically,” he said.  

The Senate's anger comes after Dennis last week obstructed the passage of an act seeking to grant charter to the "PYJ Polytechnic," making it a degree granting university in Liberia. Dennis, insisted that enacting such law in Liberia and naming a university after "PYJ", who is considered a murderer, will be a disgraced to the nation.

She explained that granting Prince Johnson School a charter by the Liberian Legislature means the people of Liberia are dignifying him for the role he played during the civil crisis. She called on Senator Johnson to openly apologize to Liberian people for killing innocent citizens.

Her advocacy in session last week,  led to a stalemate in the arguments, which forced the presiding officer to seize the motions.

In response to the non-passage of the PYJ Polytechnic, Johnson said on Sunday, the Polytechnic is intended to benefit the people of Nimba, Liberia and the world at large.

 He however said he was disappointed that Dennis would claim that he was totally involved in the election of Dennis in 2017 by campaigning to Nimbaians residing in Montserrado County Electoral District #4 through Nimba Kwado.

He added that objecting to such a dream shows the highest degree of Dennis' hate against him, which he (Johnson) does not deserve, considering his personal support to her during the 2017 election.

Preaching on September 4, the first Sunday of the month, at his Chapel of Faith Ministries in Paynesville, from the text, Ecclesiastes 3:1 with the theme: “My Past is Over”, Evangelist Johnson who is also the General Overseer of the church, said  Rep. Dennis has consistently called him criminal, rogue, and murderer, without displaying any evidence against him. 

"Did I steal your money or Have I controlled an entity of the government with budget allocation? Madam Dennis, you are a little girl, I love you but God loves. I am not after you, so why are you after me?” Johnson asked.

Reflecting on his dark days during the 1989 wars, where his defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) killed President Samuel Doe, the then Field Marshal Johnson said his decision is based on the fact his kinsmen (Nimbaians) were chased out of their representative rental homes, communities, while women, girls, and babies were raped consistently and Nimba was declared ‘enemy of the state’.

According to him, during the biblical days, King Solomon asked God for wisdom and God gave wisdom but he (Johnson) did not ask for popularity because one can be popular, but may not be a servant to the people or a leader of the leader.

He noted that he asked God to be a servant to the people; today God has made him to be a leader to the people to the extent that many came to the national stage through him.

Meanwhile, Dennis, who blocked  the passage of the PYJ Polytechnic into law, was also the lead campaigner for soliciting signatures from members of the House of Representatives for the establishment of the War Crimes Court in Liberia. 

More than 50 members of the House of Representatives signed the Resolution, calling for the establishment of an extraordinary criminal court in Liberia to try those who are believed to have committed heinous crimes between 1979 and 2003 – the period of civil unrest in Liberia.