George Weah Research Articles

AN INVESTIGATION OF NATIONAL UNITY BUILDING IN PRESIDENT GEORGE WEAH’S INAUGURAL SPEECH (2018): A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL APPROACH

The inaugural ceremony of President George Manneh Weah made Liberia the focus of international attention as well as leading newspapers, television and radio stations across the globe. His speech has been described as one of the best inaugural orations in modern history; what values its exploration. Following the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) theory, this study deals with national unity building through tenor variable and interpersonal meaning in the speech under consideration. It aims at exploring how interpersonal meaning is realised in this speech and at helping readers understand and evaluate the speech regarding its suitability. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used. The findings show that George Weah uses exclusively declarative and imperative moods in his speech and that the core messages conveyed through this are his gratitude, promises, and calling for National Unity for the building of this “New Liberia”

Promoting COVID-19 vaccination through music and drama-Lessons from early phase of the pandemic.

Promoting COVID-19 vaccination through music and drama-Lessons from early phase of the pandemic.

Long-lasting Peace in Liberia?

In 2018, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released his report measuring progress on the implementation of sustaining peace, outlining four areas with a focus on: effective leadership; operational and policy coherence; partnerships; and financing for peacebuilding. This article examines the implementation of the recommendations made by Guterres on peacebuilding and sustaining peace in Liberia. With the departure of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and the political transition from former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to current President George Weah, Liberia is seen as a test case for the implementation of the Secretary-General’s recommendations.

Mission accomplished: 15 years of peacekeeping success in Liberia

On a bright, sunny day in January this year, Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf turned over power to George Weah, a decorated soccer star, following peaceful and successful elections. This marked Liberia’s first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 years.

Liberia in 2011: still ploughing its own democratic furrow?

The momentous 2005 Liberian elections followed a devastating civil war. Remarkably, the winner of the presidential race was a woman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and the second-placed was a footballer, George Weah. In addition, in stark contrast to many African elections in particular those in neighbouring Sierra Leone, voting patterns were fragmented: voters often chose President, Senators and Representatives from different parties or independents. Much can be explained by a remarkably level playing-field delivered by an interim coalition government providing no incumbent. In 2011, the Johnson-Sirleaf incumbency stood to significantly change the dynamics. This article seeks to discern whether Liberian elections maintain their unusual patterns, whether Liberia has joined the ranks of African patron-clientelist, dominant-party or two-party systems, in particular compared to that of Sierra Leone, or whether there are new twists in its democratic development.

Terrorizing defences: Sport in the Liberian civil conflict

The democratically elected President of Liberia was between 1997 and 2004 also the country’s ‘Chief Patron of Sport’. Enjoying tennis more than team games, the one-time President, Charles Taylor, realized that the electorate’s enthusiasm for the game of football meant that the game could be a useful vehicle with which to associate. As well as funding the salaries of the national ‘Lone Star’ football team, Taylor also sponsored a football team in the national league drawn from his personal militia known as the ‘Anti-Terrorist Unit’ (ATU). Prone to random murder by night, the same players, out of their recognizable uniform and in match kit, respected the rules of the game and the position of the referee. Others seeking the same sporting enjoyment were, when on the field of play in 2003, captured and forced to join the Presidential militia when rebel forces sought to overthrow Taylor. Players of another team – mainly children – were killed mid-match when a rocket-propelled grenade – origins contested – landed in their midst. The Liberian nation’s most famous citizen and one-time FIFA World Footballer of the Year, George Weah, twice fled the country in terror, once when threatened by the forces of the President, and again years later when an angry mob of irate football supporters blamed him for their national football team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup Finals. There was no shortage of incidents in Liberia in the aforementioned years that could be classed as ‘terrorist’ and indeed terrifying; sporting practice at times exemplified the alternatives available to conflict, yet at other times it accentuated the fault lines in what BBC political journalist Fergal Keane famously called Africa’s ‘basket case’.

Women and the 2005 election in Liberia

ABSTRACTIn 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defeated George Weah to become President of Liberia and the first woman elected to head an African country. Women voters were widely credited with her victory. This paper quantifies this claim by analysing newspaper content during the election period to gauge civil society group activity. It finds thatconsistencyin their activities may have allowed women's groups to surpass other civil society groups in impacting the election. Activity levels of women's groups remained stable between the election and run-off periods, unlike other major group types whose activity level dropped by between 37% and 70%. It concludes that the environment surrounding the 2005 election was conducive to participation by women because of their existing, latent power in many spheres; their long experience as peacebuilders; the decimation of conventional social and political structures; Liberian women's experience in leadership positions; the failure of multiple male-dominated efforts; and the presence of a well-qualified female candidate.

The global footballer and the local war‐zone: George Weah and transnational networks in Liberia, West Africa

Abstract Elite sport is the vehicle for global interactions via both its shared practices and the relations engendered by its governing bodies and its global tournaments. This capability has attracted the attentions of those seeking both nation‐building and reconciliation in war‐damaged nations. The narrative that follows has global implications, telling as it does the story of George Weah, a Liberian‐born footballer who became a humanitarian ambassador, and later aspired to become his country's president. Weah's story informs debates on globalization, illustrating the transnational career of a man who developed a keen understanding of institutional politics and patronage and who allowed himself to be courted by various global figures. These scenarios took place in Liberia, a war‐devastated African nation. This tale thus provides for reflection on how sport can encourage and undermine practises of nationhood. As a former World Footballer of the Year, Weah was a Liberian success story and well aware of his populist appeal. However, the issue of who a people are and who is to be their national political representative has proven to be a very fraught issue in the Liberian context. Whether global sporting networks have made the world smaller and the people more knowing in the Liberian context is an issue this article raises in considering its most famous citizen.

Of Note: Celebrity and Politics

Of Note:Celebrity and Politics Andrew Kamons A politician's ability to take advantage of innovations in media has long been central to his or her electoral success. It's been nearly fifty years since JFK demonstrated that in the age of television, a close shave and an effective antiperspirant could be as important to a presidential election as bold leadership and a robust foreign policy strategy. Yet as innovations in the media continue to blur the line between celebrity and politician, politicians must not only keep abreast of the latest media technology, they must also be wary of those celebrities eager to supplant them in their leadership roles. The link between celebrity and activism is well established. There is a natural transition from being a spokesperson for someone else's product—a practice almost as old as that of hawking goods themselves—to speaking up for one's own causes or interests. Traditional politicians have moved beyond the staid celebrity endorsement to more creative uses of their famous friends. When British Prime Minister Tony Blair is photographed listening attentively to Bono and Bob Geldof talk about debt relief, he's not just selling the idea that celebrities support his views, but rather that he himself is willing to entertain their opinions and to heed their counsel.1 Whether it is Bill Clinton playing the saxophone on the Tonight Show or President George W. Bush poised mid-deck in his flight suit, our leaders clearly recognize that behaving like celebrities can translate into public approval. But why settle for politicians who attempt to emulate celebrities when one can have the celebrities themselves? The growing cult of celebrity has enabled those with limited political experience to rise higher within the political sphere, not only as activists, but also as policymakers. The trends suggest that celebrity can serve as a proxy for political accomplishment. Critics contend that while celebrities may succeed in engaging with the public, they rarely do so without diluting the message they are trying to convey. Celebrity endorsements succeed in large part because they apply a veneer of attractiveness to whatever policy or cause they support. Unfortunately, celebrities often prove reluctant to wrestle with ambiguities and quick to gloss over the very distinctions that give a position importance. It's hard to argue against those who seek to reduce the toll of AIDS in the developing world, but when it comes to decisions over sex education, access to medications, or resource allocation, the issue is far from clear-cut.2 Celebrity politicians often run as populist outsiders who can reach across the aisles and who can draw disaffected voters into the political process. [End Page 145] As such, they succeed best where party systems are poorly entrenched and barriers to outside entry are low. In Minnesota, former actor and political pundit Jesse Ventura won the gubernatorial race due in large part to lax restrictions on late voter registration that allowed him to capitalize on a last minute swing in momentum by attracting unregistered voters to the polls.3 Where the party system is weak and politics personalized, celebrity often carries more weight. The runner up in Liberia's election last year was George Weah, a political novice known principally for his success as a professional soccer player in Europe. Despite having a modest academic record and spending most of his adult life outside the country, he achieved a plurality of votes in the first ballot, and lost by a slim margin in the runoff election.4 One of the strongest critiques of celebrity politicians is that they in fact short-circuit the democratic process by winning on personal appeal instead of sound policies. Darrell West and John Orman argue, "Celebrity politics accentuates many of the elements in our society that drain substance out of the political process and substitutes trivial and nonsubstantive forms of entertainment. [This] endangers the ability of ordinary citizens to hold leaders accountable for their policymaking decisions."5 Unlike other populist outsiders, celebrities rarely offset this failing with their reformist credentials. That celebrities are not proponents of the policies favored by the people they represent is a criticism that could also be applied to any number...

The media's agenda-setting role in Liberia's 2005 presidential runoff election

“Studying the relationships between news sources, media professionals, the public and government actions within an agenda-setting framework is a demanding task, of course, but one worth pursuing if we are to gain a more complete and holistic understanding of the role of the mass communication in democratic political system” (Weaver, 1987, p. 190). Weaver's argument is examined in the context of the immediate circumstances leading to the historic victory of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president, in the Liberian presidential runoff election in November 2005. It is argued that by framing ‘qualification and experience’ (Sirleaf's strength) over ‘common sense and popularity’ (soccer celebrity George Weah's strength), the media played an important role in influencing the presidential vote in favour of the former. It is argued that the public threats issued by Sirleaf's rival, Weah, “to teach journalists a lesson” if he was to be elected president, proved counterproductive for Weah as it only helped to reinforce the framing of his opponent's strengths and exposing his weakness, eventually tipping the balance against him in the runoff after beating his opponent by a wide margin in the first rounds.

The media's agenda-setting role in Liberia's 2005 presidential runoff election

“Studying the relationships between news sources, media professionals, the public and government actions within an agenda-setting framework is a demanding task, of course, but one worth pursuing if we are to gain a more complete and holistic understanding of the role of the mass communication in democratic political system” (Weaver, 1987, p. 190). Weaver's argument is examined in the context of the immediate circumstances leading to the historic victory of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first elected female president, in the Liberian presidential runoff election in November 2005. It is argued that by framing ‘qualification and experience’ (Sirleaf's strength) over ‘common sense and popularity’ (soccer celebrity George Weah's strength), the media played an important role in influencing the presidential vote in favour of the former. It is argued that the public threats issued by Sirleaf's rival, Weah, “to teach journalists a lesson” if he was to be elected president, proved counterproductive for Weah as it only helped to reinforce the framing of his opponent's strengths and exposing his weakness, eventually tipping the balance against him in the runoff after beating his opponent by a wide margin in the first rounds.

Liberia 2005: an unusual African post-conflict election

The 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the ensuing two-year-long National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), which brought together two rebel forces, the former government and members of civil society, justifiably had many critics but also one positive and possibly redeeming feature. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the realpolitik nature of the CPA and the barely disguised gross corruption of the members of the coalition government, the protagonists in the second Liberian civil war (2000–03) complied with the agreement and the peace process held. The culmination of this sequence of events was the 11 October 2005 national elections, the 8 November presidential run-off and the 16 January 2006 inauguration. In several ways, this was the African post-conflict election that broke the mould, but not just in that a woman, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, won the presidential race, and a football star, George Weah, came second. The virtual absence of transformed rebel forces or an overbearing incumbent in the electoral races, partially as a result of the CPA and NTGL, gave these polls extraordinary features in an African setting.