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LIBERIA-POLITICS-WEAH
George Weah: from football icon to Liberia president
MONROVIA, Jan 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – George Weah emerged from Liberia’s
slums to become a superstar footballer in the 1990s, and has spent the last
13 years building political credibility to match his status as a sporting
icon.
Weah, 51, put education, job creation and infrastructure at the centre of
his policy platform to beat outgoing Vice President Joseph Boakai to the
presidency, and expectations are sky-high he will deliver for the country’s
youthful population.
“I am a human being, I strive to be excellent, and I can be successful,”
Weah told journalists ahead of his inauguration, countering critics who say
he is ill-prepared for office after serving in the Senate for just over three
years.
The first African player to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year
trophy and the Ballon d’Or, Weah was largely absent from Liberia during the
1989-2003 civil war period, playing for a string of top-flight European teams
including Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, and later Chelsea.
Weah becomes the 25th president of the west African nation, taking power
from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf after 12 years and completing its first
democratic transition since 1944.
“We love him, we just love him,” said mature student Moses Adams, as he
watched Weah and his veterans’ team play a friendly game against the army
ahead of his inauguration.
“I expect big change. I expect our lives to be better. I expect prices of
things to go down, and I expect schools to be given priority,” Adams said.
Weah faces the challenges of a depressed export economy highly reliant on
rubber and iron ore, and has pledged to make the country more self-sufficient
by transforming the agriculture sector and providing vocational training.
Sirleaf maintained a peace desperately needed after a war that killed a
quarter of a million people, but extreme poverty remains the norm for most
Liberians.
– ‘He has a mission’ –
A member of the Kru ethnic group, Weah was raised by his grandmother on a
reclaimed swamp in one of the worst slums of the capital Monrovia.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has likened Weah’s life to a film script, while
the former striker has described Wenger as a “father figure” who stood by him
as he faced racist attacks in Europe.
Wenger signed Weah in 1988 when he was manager of Monaco, guiding his
career for the next four years, and views the 1995 FIFA world player of the
year as a shining example to the rest of the game.
“I remember when I saw him for the first time in Monaco, coming in a bit
lost, not knowing anybody, not being rated by anybody as a player and after,
in 1995, becoming the best player in the world,” Wenger said in January.
“Now he’s president of his country — it’s an unbelievable story. But it’s
down to the fact that one thing that was common in George’s attitude is being
strong mentally, absolutely unbelievably convinced that he has a mission.”
– ‘All up to him’ –
Younger voters have overwhelmingly favoured Weah, helping to propel him to
power, but they are expecting quick results.
“The expectation of the people and the country is all up to him (Weah).
Everybody believes that if he fails us, the majority will be disappointed
with politics,” said Samuel Harmon, 30, a street trader.
Critics however accuse Weah’s Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) of
having too vague a political platform, and have challenged his long absences
from the senate since being elected in a 2014 race he won over Sirleaf’s son.
Weah has also fended off barbs over his vice presidential pick, Jewel Howard-
Taylor, the ex-wife of jailed former president and warlord Charles Taylor.
Howard-Taylor is also a respected senator in her own right, and brought
him important votes in the key county of Bong. Along with Sirleaf, she is one
of few powerful women in Liberian public life.
Weah is married to Clar Weah, and their son Timothy signed a professional
football contract with Paris Saint-Germain in July 2017.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1015 hrs