George Weah: Selling Liberia’s Birthright

In 2005, George Weah attempted to run for the Executive Office in Liberia against Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The citizens charged that he was uneducated and therefore not qualified to hold the reigns of the nation. Weah returned to the classroom and obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from DeVry University and it paid dividends years later. In 2018, George Weah became the 25th Liberian President.

Liberians affectionately call Weah ‘King George’ but they are mesmerized by his rags to riches story. Weah grew up in the slums of Clara Town in Monrovia to the Executive mansion. As a high school dropout who made a name for himself playing soccer in Europe he became a national treasure. At one time he was even named FIFA World Player of the Year.

President George Weah

George Weah has only been President for 8 months, however, some of his proposed policies would concern many patriotic Liberians and Africans in general. The Liberia he inherited from Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was already facing many challenges. According to the World Bank, the gross domestic product per capita was $455 in 2016. Inflation is at 15 percent and rising, and unemployment is at record highs (New York Times, April 2018). However, in a quest to resolve these economic problems, Weah’s judgment seems to lack a very short term perspective that will leave many Liberians worse off in the long runn.

Removal of Land rights

There are current regulations to protect sovereign wealth in Liberia so that Liberians have an inheritance as part of their birthright. Instead Weah wants to open the floodgates and let foreigners own land in a world where Liberians could never afford to. In essence Liberians were poor but at least owned land but after Weah Liberians will still be poor but this time they will be worse living as serfs in their own land. In Jamaica, where Weah’s wife is from the Syrians and Chinese own all the valuable real estate and Jamaicans are poor but George Weah wants to convince us that it will work for Liberia.

Education

In the 2018, New York Times Op-Ed which he authored Weah say, “Education will play a central role in pushing the economy forward.” Education is an essential is developing human capital. However, in addition to an educated workforce, it is more important to develop businesses, businesses grow the economy and create wealth. This is business school 101 and everyone knows this.

Fighting corruption

Weah also stated in the same article:

“The most effective way to improve the lives of the poor and reduce inequality is to ensure that government officials do not skim public resources.”

Any business school graduate knows that income inequality is solved by policies that level the playing field and encourage business ownership. Fighting corruption is important but you can fight corruption all day long but it does not grow an economy. Creating businesses that actually contribute to the GDP has to be a priority but surprisingly it is not a priority for Mr. Weah yet he is supposed to be a graduate of a US based business school. It shows that Mr. Weah learned nothing from business school.

Foreign Investment

Weah’s solution to economic growth is luring foreign investment. This is the same tired tactic that has never worked for any African country in history. In the United States, where Weah went to university 97% of the businesses there are small businesses and the USA has the biggest economy yet Weah wants to tell us that somehow large foreign multinationals will produce economic growth over small firms.

Mr. Weah is so bent on getting revenge on his critics and to satisfy his emotional needs that he is willing to sell the country just to satisfy his ego. George Weah is quoted to have said “Today, those that said I was going to be a failure are now calling me ‘Chief’.” A true reflection that the man is ruled by emotion and not a national agenda of empowering Liberians.

If one had to pick the biblical character that best resembled Weah it would be Esau. The character that God says he hated, the man who despised his birthright and sold his birthright for food. President George Weah is selling the children’s inheritance for acceptance in the global community.

The fact is the critics were correct; Weah is a FAILURE. A man who failed to preserve Liberia’s resources and instead sold the children’s inheritance for 20 pieces of silver. He will go down in history like the other failures such as Mobuto Seso Seko of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso.