George Weah takes Liberian presidency

George Weah, who grew up in a slum and played professional football for AC Milan and Chelsea, will be the next president of Liberia after a decisive electoral victory that marks the west African country’s first fully democratic transition in more than 70 years. With 98 per cent of votes counted, the former Fifa world footballer of the year, now 51, had won 61.5 per cent of the vote, according to Liberia’s electoral commission, which announced the results on Thursday evening. Mr Weah beat Joseph Boakai, 73, the current vice-president, in an election run-off that had been delayed because of a legal challenge over alleged irregularities in the first round, held in October.

Mr Weah, who grew up in the Clara Town neighbourhood of Monrovia, the capital, won the first round, in which 20 candidates ran, but failed to secure more than 50 per cent of the vote, forcing a second round against Mr Boakai. The country, once a byword for violence, has been peaceful throughout the electoral process. The election of Mr Weah, who first ran for president in 2005 and has been a senator since 2015, brings to an end 12 years under Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and Africa’s first elected female leader.

Under her watch, Liberia has been hampered by low commodity prices and the worst Ebola outbreak in history as it tries to rebuild after the devastation of two civil wars that ended in 2003. The country was founded by freed American slaves in the 19th century. Mrs Sirleaf, a former World Bank official, has been praised for bringing stability, rebuilding roads and power transmission and for re-establishing Liberia’s international links. But she has also been criticised for her perceived failure to control corruption and for the poor state of an economy where few have formal jobs and many struggle to feed their families.

The fact that Mr Weah does not come from the country’s political elite fits a global pattern in which self-designated outsiders — from India’s Narendra Modi and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte to Donald Trump of the US — have stormed the political battlements. “It is time for the new breed of leaders to take the stage,” Mr Weah told a recent rally, adding that Liberia’s so-called elites — many of whom were educated in the US — had failed to govern in the interests of ordinary people. “They had 12 years of leadership that you gave them, but they did not improve your conditions,” he said, referring to Mrs Sirleaf’s two terms.

“My record as a proven patriot and an achiever is there for all of you to see.” Wildly popular in the slums of Monrovia and in many poorer communities nationwide, Mr Weah has been mocked by an establishment that has sniffed at his limited education and experience. Benoni Urey, a wealthy businessmen who was knocked out in the first presidential round, said: “The executive mansion is not a soccer academy. It is where serious business occurs.” He criticised Mr Weah’s campaign for what he said was an absence of concrete policies.

“My little brother Weah should tell the Liberian people why he wants to be president. We have not heard his plans for Liberia.” Mr Weah, a Christian who once converted to Islam, has also been criticised for his choice as running mate of Jewel Taylor, ex-wife of former president and convicted war criminal Charles Taylor.

In an interview with the FT last year, Mr Weah said he was less tainted by the past than his opponents, having spent most of the civil-war period playing football in Europe. “No person says: ‘George hurt me. He’s a wicked man,’” he said, adding that he was best known for his charitable donations. Rodney Sieh, founder of FrontPage Africa and a political commentator, said Mr Weah would need to gather a strong team if his presidency were not to collapse under the weight of unrealistic expectations. “For many he can do no wrong,” he said. “But he needs to realise that he’s in a different ball game. This is the biggest game of his life.”

SOURCE

FT.COM