George Weah, President of Liberia has announced that he will stand for re-election.
In his annual state of the nation address, Weah disclosed that he would be coming to Liberians shortly to request them to renew for a second time the mandate they gave him six years ago.
Weah defended his first term and promised “a mandate of opportunity, a mandate for transformation, a mandate for development.”
“Let me assure you that the state of our nation is strong. The state of our nation is stable … The state of our nation is peaceful and secure. We intend to keep it this way.”
George Weah
As part of his speech, Weah iterated that he has made it an overarching purpose and duty to work towards preserving the peace of the Nation, “ensuring always that we do not slide back into conflict.”
“This has been the fundamental underpinning of all development and policy initiatives of my Administration,” Weah added.
Also, the Liberian President disclosed that significant progress has been made in restructuring domestic debt, adding that a recent debt sustainability analysis by the IMF has upgraded Liberia’s debt management rating from “high risk of total debt distress” to “moderate risk of total debt distress”.
Weah has been accused of economic mismanagement during his time in office.
Weah, a former international footballer, clinched a sweeping run-off victory in the last general election in 2017 on the support from young people and the poor.
Next elections are slated for October, 10, 2023.
Liberia Faced With Endemic Corruption
The 56-year-old leader promised to end endemic corruption that his predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was widely accused of failing to address.
However, corruption remains prevalent in the country, with the watchdog Transparency International ranking Liberia 136th of 180 countries in its 2021 corruption perceptions index.
Last year, the United States imposed sanctions on a number of senior Liberian officials over corruption allegations, including Weah’s Chief of staff.
Liberia was also ravaged by an Ebola pandemic and the nation of five million people, one of the poorest in the world, has been adversely affected by the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to World Bank figures, about half its people live on less than $1.90 a day.
George Weah was absent from Liberia for more than a month late last year, prompting a lot of criticism.
Weah went abroad at the end of October for a string of political gatherings in numerous countries and to watch his footballer son represent the United States at the World Cup in Qatar. Weah had shared pictures and video of himself with his son in Qatar on Twitter, speaking of being a “proud daddy” as the US national team qualified for the knockout stages.
However, images of Weah enjoying himself in the stands in Qatar, where he was a “guest of honour”, while Liberians struggle did not sit well with many compatriots venting their fury on social media.
The opposition condemned what it saw as the president’s globe-trotting between Qatar and international summits in Morocco, Egypt, France, Monaco and the United States while former Vice President Joseph Boakai, opined that Liberia was “on autopilot”.
“We continue to witness other acts of poor leadership, irresponsible behaviour, lack of concern, impunity, and wanton misuse of our finances,” Joseph Boakai added, suggesting that others could have represented the country in Weah’s stead.
President Weah was not seen in his homeland until December 8, 2023, whereas Liberians have been battling soaring prices and shortages of basic goods.
The day before, several hundred Liberians had demonstrated peacefully at the call of opposition groups to denounce Weah’s alleged incompetence and indifference to the plight of ordinary Liberians.
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