From Liberia’s swampy slums to superstar footballer and national president, George Weah is running for a second term in elections on Tuesday, defending a controversial record in office and facing determined opposition.
His election victory in 2017 sparked high hopes of change in one of the least developed countries on the planet, still reeling from civil war and disease.
Weah had spent the previous decade building political credibility, including three years in the Senate, to match his sporting icon status.
Today, the 57-year-old is campaigning hard to convince Liberians he can still improve their lives.
“During our first term, we laid the foundations for peace, freedom of speech, macroeconomic stability, and restoring confidence in the national educational system,” Weah told his Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) party’s national campaign launch last month.
“I can guarantee that the years 2024 and beyond will be better for all Liberians,” he said.
Posters of Weah and his running mate Jewel Howard-Taylor, the ex-wife of jailed former president and warlord Charles, are all over the streets of the capital Monrovia.
Weah has said he is fighting for a “first-round victory”.
In the capital’s Clara Town, where he was born, youngsters still idolize the first African player to win both FIFA’s World Player of the Year trophy and the Ballon d’Or.
“I’m 100 percent behind George Weah,” said Marcally J. Mulbah, sat on his motorbike chatting to friends. “He’s a man of peace.”
Twenty-two-year-old student Godgift Pewee sports CDC party bracelets and recalled Weah playing soccer with him at the opening of a sports complex in the area.
Pewee said Weah is tolerant and has jailed no one for political reasons.
Janga Kowo, a long-time friend of Weah and now Comptroller General of the West African country, told AFP that Liberians still love their president.
“President Weah is the most approachable Liberian leader ever,” he said.
“Even at the time he was playing professional soccer, he was always back home — four times a year.
“Socially this is a man who connects with the Liberian people, that is why the Liberian people will continue to show love to him.”
But on a nearby street strewn with plastic rubbish, Saturday Gbalah, 42, said the president had lost his “connection” to the people.
