Volunteers from all five regions of the Navajo Nation have spent the past couple of weeks gathering signatures from tribal voters to officially remove current President Buu Nygren.
Recall chairperson Debbie Nez-Manuel said she’s confident they’re on track to meet the goal of almost 33,000 signatures.
“Other tribes, they’re watching this closely. They’re recognizing how we’re standing up for ourselves,” she said. “They’re recognizing that corruption is not going to be something that will be tolerated, that we do need to address it. We do need to do something.”
Nez-Manuel was part of Nygren’s Cabinet as executive director of Human Resources until she was dismissed in June. She said she left following the reaction to Vice President Richelle Montoya’s allegations of sexual harassment against Nygren.
“My hat as a human resources director does not allow me to put down one of our employees because the president wants a statement read. Or it does not allow me to give raises to his office when many of our government employees haven’t received an increase between five or maybe eight years,” said Nez-Manuel. “It does not allow me to not serve the needs of the Vice President when I'm told, you know, ‘Don’t bother helping her.’ You know, those things are wrong. That's not how our Navajo Nation, who's a matriarchal society. That's not how we're supposed to treat our women.”
Nygren has denied any wrongdoing in his interactions with Montoya. Nez-Manuel said volunteers will continue to collect signatures until the deadline in six months.
