Published: October 16, 2024
MONROVIA – Montserrado County Senator, Abraham Darius Dillon, faces accusations from Cllr. Moriah Yeakulah-Korkpor of the opposition Alternative National Congress, who charges him with deceiving voters and failing to uphold his campaign promises. She has urged citizens residing in Montserrado to solicit signatures for his removal from the Senate.
According to Cllr. Yeakulah-Korkpor, Senator Dillon, once celebrated for his pledge to bring transparency and integrity to the Liberian Senate, has fallen short of the expectations he set during his campaign. “Senator Dillon’s tenure has been marked by a series of unkept promises and actions that contradict his initially stated principles,” she stated.
Highlighting specific grievances, Yeakulah-Korkpor detailed how Dillon promised to only receive $5,000 of his $15,000 senatorial salary, allocating the remainder to community development projects. However, this promise remains unfulfilled. “Instead, he claims that he rerouted the money to a shelter for drug-affected youth, a move that was never part of the original promise,” she explained.
Dillon’s acceptance of a $45,000 car allowance — a benefit he had previously criticized — also came under fire in her critique. She criticized Dillon for his apparent hypocrisy, noting, “He condemned the purchase of such expensive vehicles for lawmakers as wasteful, yet he has failed to refuse them since taking office.”
According to her, Cllr. Dillon’s decision to fence his compound and hire guards runs contrary to his promise of being accessible and transparent to his constituents.
“This is not about his security; it is about intentionally lying to the people when he had no intentions of keeping said promise,” she asserted.
Cllr. Yeakula further called the Montserrado County Senator for failing to hold the Unity Party-led government accountable, noting that he has become the de facto Minister of Information for the ‘Rescue Government’.
“He now defends the government, carries out functions of the executive (which is against our laws), and has forgotten his legislative oversight and accountability functions. Dillon cannot tell you the last time he visited a rural township in Montserrado to hear the concerns of his constituents, outside of the 2023 campaign for Rescue,” stated.
Cllr. Yeakulah-Korkpor urged the citizens of Montserrado to recognize their constitutional power to demand accountability and remove non-performing officials. She highlighted the possibility of petitioning the Legislature to expel a member, a measure she believes should be considered against Dillon.
Cllr. Yeakula: Why do we surrender our power as the people and continue to cry about our lawmakers and specifically Sen. Dillon of Montserrado!? Why do we keep saying “we are waiting for 2029?” What is stopping us from getting 10,000 signatures of Montserrado Constituents on a petition to take to the Senate.
According to her, it has become obvious that Sen. Dillon is more interested in the Executive than his mandate as Senator of the most populated county.
“Maybe it is time we ask him to leave and go work in the Executive since he has abandoned his work as Senator, flying around the globe with the President, defending the excesses of this government, continuously broken his promises to us and kept silent on the corruption and bad governance in almost a year. He’s silent on issues affecting Montserrado, from the frequent fires burning businesses and homes, to floods affecting communities, to budget allotments for schools and hospitals in the county, etc.,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Senator Dillon has said it would be premature to attack a government that has only just begun its work. “It is unreasonable for me to be the one, from day one, to start to beat my own baby already,” Dillon said. “I support this regime, this administration. I am a brainchild of this administration,” he said.
Dillon, first elected to the Liberian Senate in 2019 and re-elected in 2020, has insisted that his principles remain unchanged. However, his critics believe that his recent silence is an indication that he may be going easy on his own party. “The Dillon of 2019 and 2020 is the same Dillon today,” the senator asserted, but added that his strategy has shifted towards providing constructive governance support rather than opposition.
Yet, this shift in approach has not sat well with some of his supporters, who admired his fearless stance against the excesses of former President Weah’s administration. Now, many are asking why Dillon, once regarded as the “Light of the Senate,” has not been as vocal about potential missteps under the Boakai administration. Some argue that his perceived leniency could suggest he is turning a blind eye to issues that, under Weah, would have sparked his outrage.
The Montserrado County Senator again came under criticism for flying business class along with the Senate Pro-Tempore. According to reports, he was jeered with some calling him “Fake Light” while on the plane. But Senator Dillon insists that the trip was privately funded. He also suggested that the claims were politically motivated, stating, “The politics of the day is to make Dillon look so bad and ugly.”
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