PYJ Pledged Support AFL

Having sat at the symposium held in advance of the 55th Armed Forces Day Celebration slated for 11th February, Nimba County Senator Prince Y. Johnson, chairman of the 53rd legislature committee on nation defence pledged unweavering support to the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) in terms of defending budgetary request to august body by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The militarily inclined Nimba Lawmaker urged the Defence Minister designate, Brownie Samukai, to find out the needs of the nation’s defence force and use allotted budget to solve problems that needed to be addressed to keep its members committed. He added that if there was a need for additional budget, the MOD should make that need known to the National Legislature and he along with his defence committee counterparts will defend it to the letter and have it passed. According to Senator Johnson, one thing that he came to learn while in military service was that no one ‘messes with a soldier money, food or woman;’ this statement pledge drawed appaulses from members of the AFL who attended the program. Also speaking at the symposium, Former Defense Minister, Daniel Chea, who give a brief history of the AFL observed that historians in Liberia have not done enough in cataloging facts about the existance of the army and the role the force have played over the past years. He said it will be a good that records of the force are kept to give the future generation an insight of the how the military have served the people of Liberia since its formulation in early 1957 with the constitutional responsibility to preserve the Liberian way of life and defend the borders. Mr. Chea lauded the pledge made to the Defense Ministry by the Senator Johnson and urged the minister designate to make use of the support being given him by the lawmaker to build a strong and proffessional army. During the taylor-led government when he served as the minister of defense, Mr. Chea said he did not have such support from the legislature to forge forward with the improvement of the AFL. In response to the pledge made by the Nimba Sanator, Defense Minister Samukai said he appreciated the support that the lawmaker have pledge but told the men and women of the AFL present not to be overly zealous because the House have shun him before.