George Weah is getting closer to the
dream of his second life to be elected president of Liberia on Tuesday
December 26, in a country traumatized by the civil war, which he intends to
reconcile.
At 51, the ex-star striker of PSG and
AC Milan is again in the final of the presidential election after having very
clearly led the first round poll on October 10 in this small English-speaking
country in Africa West, one of the poorest in the world.
Weah faces Vice President Joseph Boakai
in a run-off poll which was scheduled for November but had to be postponed due
to a court action brought by his opponents.
The only African to have won the
Golden Ball in 1995, Weah was largely absent from the country during the civil
war that killed some 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003.
Entering politics at the end of the
conflict, he was defeated in the second round of the 2005 presidential election
by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected head of state in Africa and
then as vice-presidential candidate in 2011.
His party alleged irregularity and
fraud but in vain.
This time, while his opponent Joseph
Boakai alleged “fraud and irregularities” having according to him tainted the
first round poll, George Weah called on his supporters to remain patience and
calm.
And he made a show of strength on
Saturday by gathering tens of thousands of supporters in the country’s largest
stadium in Monrovia.
Fifteen years after hanging up his
boots, he claims to have “gained experience” in the political arena and has
learnt from his failures.
In December 2014, he was elected a
senator, defeating Robert Sirleaf, one of Ellen Johnson. Sirleaf’s sons.
“Nobody should be afraid of change,
look at my life: I went from footballer to politician,” he said during the
campaign.
“You too can be this person, we are
the same,” said the former football star, raised by his grandmother in
Gibraltar, a shanty town in Monrovia.
To his critics, who consider his
program too vague and point out his absence the Senate, he retorts with his
record in health and education, the close relations he has with the people and
his promises. “I will make sure our hospitals are equipped, that our doctors
and nurses are trained and that they are encouraged to work.”
Weah chose Jewel Howard-Taylor, the
former wife of former warlord and president Charles Taylor (1997-2003), a
respected senator as his running mate.
But George Weah, while affirming
that “everyone was the friend of Charles Taylor”, repeats he has no “contact”
with the former president, sentenced in 2012 by the International Criminal
Court to 50 years in Prison for crimes against humanity and war crimes in
neighboring Sierra Leone.
During the civil war, Weah pleaded
for peace in Liberia, calling on the United Nations to save his country.
In retaliation, rebels burned his
house in Monrovia and took hostage two of his cousins.
A member of the Kru ethnic group,
one of the most important of Liberia, and not the elite descendant of former
American slaves who traditionally dominate politics, George Weah saw his life
swing in 1988 the age of 22, thanks to Arsène Wenger.
Then coach of Monaco, the French
tactician had unearthed this Tonnerre Yaoundé striker in Cameroon, and brought
to the international stage.
For 14 years, this strong striker
played for some of the biggest European clubs – Paris Saint Germain and AC
Milan, at the height of his career, then Chelsea, Manchester City, Marseille -,
amassing a considerable fortune.
But he kept his ties in the suburbs
of Monrovia, where he still plays football with friends. Weah’s success story
continues in football.
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