The people of Nimba County are enraged over decision by fallen Senator Prince Y. Johnson to name the hall of his PYJ Polytechnic University in honor of a foreign leader.
By Thomas Domah & Kruah Thompson
Ganta, Liberia, December 2, 2024—Controversial Nimba County Senator Prince Yormie Johnson succumbed to death here early Thursday, November 28th, 2024, but his last decision, a day before his passing, to name his university hall in memory of late Togolese President Gnassigbe Eyadema is upsetting many Nimbaians.
The late Senator, who was serving his third nine-year term in office, took the decision when he officially dedicated the GNASSIGBE EYADEMA Hall of the PYJ Polytechnic University in Ganta City on November 27, 2024, just a day before his death at 72, at his residence in Paynesville, outside Monrovia.
However, immediately after he made the pronouncement in the county, several Nimbaians appeared on local radio stations in Ganta, expressing disappointment and frustration over such a decision.
They lament that, having voted for and given the fallen senator 27 years in power, it was disappointing that he ignored prominent names from the county and instead named the facility in honor of a former President of a foreign country.
However, the late PYJ was said to have justified his decision by recalling that during the Liberian Civil War, the late Togolese President GNASSIGBE EYADEMA helped him launch his book on the war, “The Gun that Liberate Should Not Rule.”
Several Nimbaians, who spoke with The NEW DAWN after his passing, described the death of the leader of the disbanded rebels Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) as a big tree that has fallen in the county.
The late senator and evangelist, who was dubbed as kingmaker in Liberian politics, reportedly collapsed during early hours of Thursday, November 28, 2024, at his residence in Paynesville and was rushed to Hope for Woman Medical Center, not too far from his residence, where he was pronounced dead by doctors, according to Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung.
News of his passing has evoked varied reactions across the country, with many Liberians taking to social media, radio programs, and public spaces to share their thoughts on the controversial figure’s death.
For some, the late Senator Johnson was a hero who stood up for his kinsmen during the Civil War when they were accused of subversion and chased by the Doe regime.
Yet, others pointed to his execution of President Samuel K. Doe, including widespread atrocities committed under his watch as leader of the rebels INPFL.
Characterizations of the late U.S.-sanctioned politician are divided between those who remember him as a development-focused leader and those who recall his tumultuous wartime history.
The Saytown community on 11th Street, Sinkor, in Monrovia, was a scene of jubilation on Thursday morning when news broke of his passing.
But Bas Wahles, a resident of Sinkor who witnessed the jubilant atmosphere, expresses dismay, recounting her own traumatic experiences during Liberia’s civil war.
“Why should people be happy about his death?” She asks. “Doe didn’t kill, too! He Doe committed horrible killings; yes, including Nimbians and their children, but we should at least try to lay him (PYJ) to rest before rejoicing over his passing,” she adds.
Wahles acknowledges Johnson’s controversial legacy but notes, “He was a man who stood for his people and always sought development for Nimba. All of them killed during the war. Let us not act like he was the only one responsible for the atrocities of the civil war.” She counters.
Princess Davis, another resident from Weaseh community in Sinkor, shares her personal grief, recalling how slain President Doe’s forces killed an entire family during the war. “The whole family was killed before my eyes in a house near Dosomah Field,” she reveals.
However, she expresses a broader sentiment about Liberia’s political history, suggesting that justice and national healing will only come “When all three warlords including jailed former Liberian President Taylor, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and others like them pass off, then maybe this country can begin to fix itself.”
Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report lists late Senator PYJ and other former warlords for prosecution for various atrocities committed under their watch during the war.
President Boakai has established an Office for War and Economic Crimes and appointed a head. Still, with major actors from the bloody civil crisis gradually dying, natural justice may elude many victims of the war. Editing by Jonathan Browne
