'Weah we lek you'
2005-08-30 09:23
Monrovia - Liberian football legend and presidential candidate George Weah is enjoying soaring popularity among young people, but this wanes among students trying to get an education.
As Abu Dumbuya, a 30-year-old resident of Logan Town put it: "If numbers are something to go by, George Weah has already won the presidential election set for October.
"But elections are deceptive. Some people go to programmes hosted by all candidates, even though they have their own candidate in mind."
Thousands of people, mainly youths carrying posters of Weah elegantly clad in a dark suit, took to the streets of Monrovia on August 15, the start of campaigning for the October 11 elections.
During visits to communities and suburbs of Monrovia and elsewhere, 38-year-old Weah attracts large crowds of former combatants, peddlers, petty traders and football fans.
Exiled
In the northwestern Monrovia suburb of Paynesville, considered a stronghold of former combatants loyal to exiled ex-president Charles Taylor, thousands poured onto the streets to welcome the soccer icon.
The scenes were similar in northwestern Somalia Drive, the western suburb of New Kru Town, at West Point in central Monrovia, where the former Europe-best footballer played soccer as a child. Residents held day-long vigils to catch a glimpse of the sporting icon.
Youths sang: "Opposition, where were you when Weah got the key to the mansion", and "Weah we lek you, tha the fact".
When Weah finally launched his Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party campaign, the crowd was as large as the one that rallied in support of Taylor's National Patriotic Party election campaign in 1997.
Many of Weah's supporters believe Liberia's educated people, including the likes of Charles Taylor, have failed the country.
College
"Leadership is not about education. John Major of England was not a college graduate," said John Toby, in his 20s. It is a widely-held view not only bolstered by Weah's admission during a debate last week that he was a high school drop-out.
A member of CDC's US branch told a rally that his vehicle was stopped by some youths while out campaigning.
They said: "You guys, who are around Weah, guide him so that he does not make mistakes because we are ready to die for him."
Weah also has the backing of older people, CDC Media Adviser Sam Stevequoiea told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Weah's team includes elderly people and the well-educated, such as vice-presidential candidate Rudolph Johnson. The latter has two masters' degrees and is both a former foreign minister and planning and economic affairs minister.
Weah's CDC includes former foreign minister Baccus Matthews, who is considered the "father of the Liberian Revolution".
Matthews, who started the uprising that led to the overthrow of the Americo-Liberian oligarchy in 1980, recently defected from his United People's Party (UPP) and joined Weah's CDC.
Security
He said: "Weah does not pose a security threat to anyone of us because he did not participate in the war in any shape or form. With Weah at the mansion (presidential palace), all of us will be able to sleep soundly."
In reference to Weah's perceived inexperience, Matthews said: "Weah is like a breath of fresh air blowing over Liberia. This country has known too much of trials and wars and does not need anyone with experience in 'politricks'."
Weah, he said, was "clean" - the only candidate of whom all Liberians knew how he earned his money.
But students across the country do not like the idea of Weah for president because they fear he will give education a back seat.
They support Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Harvard graduate and first runner-up in the 1997 elections won by Charles Taylor.
Weah's parents hail from southeastern Grand Kru County. He was brought up in Clara, a western suburb of Monrovia, by his grandmother and said he slept on an empty stomach for days.
- SAPA