Former Liberian warlord-turned-Liberian MP Prince Johnson has granted a rare interview to Radio Netherlands Worldwide about his presidential bid.
 
Mr Johnson (Senator of Nimba County in Northern Liberia) said he would contest the Liberian presidency in the 2011 general and presidential elections. The former leader of the Independent National Patriotic Rebel Front of Liberia said he's prepared to defeat incumbent President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at the polls and not through the barrel of a gun.
 
Mr Johnson, whose forces captured and killed ex-Liberian President Samuel Doe during the onset of the brutal Liberian civil war in 1990, said he was running to make a change in Liberia. "There are several reasons why I declared I would lead my people in 2011 when I become president. Because, over several decades, power has been centralised... and so we declared we'd run for the presidency and when elected, ensure that true decentralisation of power takes place."
 
Impoverished Liberians
The Liberian parliamentarian and ex-warlord declared he would do a better job of improving the impoverished lives of Liberians than incumbent President Johnson-Sirleaf and previous Liberian leaders, by "returning power to the people of Liberia". And he didn't mince his words on the fight against corruption and improving Liberia's record on delivering health care.
 
"Presently and in the past, corruption has been the order of the day because there has been no political will on the part of this government of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to fight corruption. And corruption impedes development; it’s the people taxes which are being stolen. So we have to protect the people's coffers by putting measures in place - drastic disciplinary measures - within the confines of the laws of Liberia to make sure that those who steal money are penalised under our laws."
 
On health care, he said, "You have a nation like Liberia that is so rich with natural resources, and those natural resources are so abundant that when properly utilised, they can provide medication for our hospitals and clinics."
 
Brutal civil war
Prince Johnson's bid for the presidency comes months after he was listed among several individuals in a report by Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission - which is investigating the country's brutal civil war - for committing mass executions, rapes, torture, looting and recruitment of child soldiers. But despite the implications of the indictment, Senator Johnson insisted he's not afraid the report's findings would bar him from running for office. He claimed the Truth Commission failed to bring him face-to-face with his accusers.
 
"It can't bar the president or anyone else. So, the whole thing about the TRC is that it was based on prejudice, it was based on prejudicial conclusions and there was no enough evidence... It lacks evidence and we weren't given our rights under the law to know who accused us."
 
He did, however, express regret for his role in Liberia's 14-year civil war, which led to the deaths of around 350,000 people.
 
Laughable
The warlord-turned-politician's decision to contest the presidency has met with mixed responses in his home country.

"Hahaha... It's laughable, I personally can't vote for Senator Johnson. In the first place we are at the point where we can't vote for any warlord. Senator Johnson has got his own problem with his colleagues - warmongers - and any attempt to give him power will return this country to another war," said Henry W. Yallah.
 
But rights activist Darius Dillon embraced Senator Johnson's decision. "I think it's welcome. Democracy is about free will and free will of the people and he wants to contest the presidency of Liberia. It is the decision of the voters whether to elect him or not."

Warlord-President?
It remains to be seen whether Liberians will vote for Prince Johnson - and make him the second warlord-President since war crimes suspect Charles Taylor was elected to office in 1997.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide