Johnson Warns Weah

-Over Alleged Missing Billions

By Reuben Sei Waylaun

Bomi County Senator Sando Dazoe Johnson has warned President George Manneh Weah and the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) that his credibility is at stake if he is not magnanimous enough to make the greatest decision regarding the alleged missing of LRD16 billion Liberian banknotes.

Speaking on Prime FM, a local radio station in Monrovia Tuesday October 9, 2018, Johnson warned the Liberian chief executive to do away with friendship or partisanship and save his credibility and the state.

“Maybe all the things that happening the president is not in the know of it, but they say show me your friend and I will show you who you are. So, I am your friend and I am a criminal, you are not a criminal and you try to harbor me and don’t expose me, people will suspect that you are part of my deeds. It is our money that some people took onto themselves,” he added.

Senator Johnson who is a staunch member of the National Patriotic Party (NPP), one of the collaborating political parties to the governing CDC has further warned that the people of Liberia didn’t vote the party into power to witness broad day robbery.

Although he is a ranking member of the National Patriotic Party (NPP), he is speaking on behalf of the people of Bomi County, saying “the people didn’t vote for them to get into theft or robbery. You cannot take our resources just like that.”

The NPP stalwart lamented that Liberia is no longer trusted by anyone since the alleged mysterious disappearance of the money.

“The international community will not trust us anymore.  The Liberian people who voted for us no longer trust us. So, we have to make the hard decision. The only way this will bring back our credibility is to pursue this matter and if anybody involved either at the higher or lower places, those people must be named and shamed, prosecuted and a resolution must be made so they be put behind bars, that’s the only way we will regain our credibility.

“If we say let’s leave it, it might go into political crisis, into unrest and a lot of things will happen because our people will not feel satisfy. Our security will be overpowered and we can be attacked by angry crowd and we are in a big predicament. This is a big national embarrassment and the next thing might be economic sanction, if that is done, it means we are doomed,” he added.

According to him, the people of Bomi County are aggrieved and totally unhappy about the alleged disappearance of sixteen billion Liberian banknotes. He lamented that he didn’t support the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) to allegedly get into robbery.

“I didn’t support the CDC or people in the CDC to get into theft or robbery and I don’t think anyone will support that. We supported people that will deliver and if they try to go contrary to why we voted for them, trust me they wouldn’t get my support as I speak,” he said.

The National Legislature which Senator Johnson is a member has been accused of authorizing the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) to print additional banknotes, but Senator Johnson confirmed that the CBL was only authorized to print additional LRD five billion and anything after that the legislature should be consulted first before any decision from the CBL.

“It’s totally untrue, the authorization given them was print five billion and if you want to print more, you must revert to the legislature and must tell us the denomination,” he said.

The Bomi County lawmaker further alleged that the money in question is in the homes of people who are reportedly infusing it into the market through dubious means which he said is controlled by joint criminals’ enterprise.

He alleged that the money was stolen from the vaults of the central bank by high ranking members of the government, but was tightlipped in naming them.

“I believe that money was not missing, but money was stolen. You were not to print LRD15 billion and didn’t have the legal authority to do that and they did that on their own, but they brought the money in, good, where is our money? If you go to those vaults you wouldn’t find the money in them, so, no money was missing, but was stolen from the vaults and it has to be high profile government officials because it cannot be ordinary person going to steal money,” he noted.