Says Court Will Expose Hidden Hands
PHOTO: (L-R) Sen. Prince Y. Johnson and former Nimba District #8 Rep. candidate Paye-Layleh
“The scars of the bloodletting are still visible and people responsible have to be held accountable.”
By Our Reporter
A former Nimba County District #8 Representative candidate in the 2023 elections, Jonathan Paye-Layleh has welcome current efforts to set up a war and economic crimes court in Liberia and is calling on Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson to embrace the establishment of the court.
In an Op-Ed published on his Facebook page on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, the former top Liberian Journalist-turned politician said: “The scars of the bloodletting are still visible and people responsible have to be held accountable.”
Mr. Paye-Layleh, who covered the Liberian civil war for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the US-based Associated Press (AP) news agency, advised Sen. Johnson that “instead of reacting harshly,” he should “relax and let the court come so that Liberians, especially people who were not around, will get to know who did and did not do what”.
Latest local media reports say Sen. Johnson has described the decision to establish a war crimes court as an action is “intended to reawaken the country’s darkest days”.
Below is full text of former Rep. candidate Paye-Layleh’s opinion piece.
MY THOUGHTS ABOUT WAR/ECONOMIC CRIMES COURT & SEN. PRINCE JOHNSON
I have been away from Facebook for 3 months. I’m back very briefly to have my say on the plan to set up a war and economic crimes court in Liberia. I also want to talk to my Senator, PYJ.
As a Liberian journalist who covered the wars and saw some of the atrocities and deliberate killings that characterized the fighting, I welcome the court wholeheartedly.
The court will provide an opportunity for some people who are thought to have committed the worst war crimes to explain their deeds in a bid to clear their names. Also some people, who may be acting clean and innocent around here because their involvements in the wars were undercover and unnoticed, could find themselves in bigger trouble and be held to account.
SEN. PRINCE JOHNSON
To my Senator, PYJ: I am always troubled by your reaction to the planned coming of the court. You make it appear as through you are the only person who stands accused of unlawful actions in the war and the only person expected to explain his past before the court.
Why do you feel alone, Senator Johnson?
Let me ask you a few questions: Were you and/or your troops involved in the infamous Lutheran Church massacre of 1990, for example? Were your fighters the ones who slaughtered over 800 displaced and fleeing civilians on September 8, 1994 in the Bong County central rural town of Kpolokpai when Gbarnga had fallen to an invading belligerent group? Were your forces the ones who lobbed rockets into the displaced people-packed Greystone Compound in Monrovia in June 2003? Were your guys the ones who were accused of killing and throwing civilians into the Maher River on the Bomi Hills Road? Were they the ones who threw fleeing civilians into the St. John River in September 1994? Was it your INPFL movement that attacked and killed locals in Sinje in 1996? Did you fight in River-G where atrocities were reportedly committed? What about the Bakedu atrocities in Lofa, were your forces involved?
Don’t you know also that the very senate in which you sit has people who need to respond to allegations of massive financial improprieties and serious economic crimes?
Senator, my point is: you need to accept to be given an opportunity to account for and defend your alleged actions in the wars; and the court obviously will come down with a fair verdict —- guilty or non-guilt. But you need to know that besides you, there are many other actors still out there who need to answer to their alleged participations in the atrocious acts for which the wars became so uncivil, brutal, gruesome, cruel and very nasty. The scars of the bloodletting are still visible and people responsible have to be held accountable.
So it annoys me that each time there is a discussion around the setting up of a war and economic crimes court, you take it personal and make people who do not know about happenings during the wars to see you as the lone alleged perpetrator.
You are the one, Senator Johnson, who’s creating the impression that you are the only person for which the court is coming.
Instead of reacting harshly, relax and let the court come so that Liberians, especially people who were not around, will get to know who did and did not do what.
As a son of Nimba County and someone who could succeed you after you have retired, this is my brotherly advice.