FEATURE: Who is George Weah?

Ghana Soccer Net

Mon 25th Dec, 2017 08:35

The wider world was ultimately proven to be premature in offering its congratulations to George Weah on becoming president of Liberia on October 10.

The AC Milan legend had indeed garnered the most votes in the first round of voting but he nonetheless failed to meet the required amount to secure election, rendering the abundance of good luck messages on social media inconsequential.

As a result, Weath now faces a run-off against the current vice-president, the Unity Party candidate Joseph Boakai, on December 26.

The world at large may recognise Weah as an inspirational figure who has made the transition from sporting to political life, but the perception of Liberia’s most famous son is not so clear-cut in his homeland.

Weah still enjoys a fruitful reputation as his country’s greatest sporting ambassador but question marks linger over his effectiveness as a political figure during the last decade, as well as his links with Charles Taylor's regime.

The dethroned ex-president of Liberia is serving 50 years in a British prison for war crimes committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone.

Weah has also earned the backing of defeated presidential candidate Prince Johnson, who was aligned with Taylor during the early days of the bloody civil war, as well as being responsible for the gruesome murder of ex-president Samuel Doe.

Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change party has entered into an alliance with Taylor’s National Patriotic Party.

“They are our natural partner,” Taylor’s ex-wife and NPP senator Jewel Howard Taylor was quoted as saying in November 2016. She is now serving as Weah’s running mate in the presidential race.

“The CDC was created out of the NPP and so the alliance with the CDC is a natural alliance.”