{"id":67764,"date":"2023-11-29T04:01:14","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T04:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=67764"},"modified":"2023-11-29T04:01:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T04:01:14","slug":"video-liberias-transition-from-george-weah-to-boaka-and-how-corruption-nailed-former-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=67764","title":{"rendered":"Video: Liberia&#8217;s transition from George Weah to Joseph Boakai; and how corruption nailed former President"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 360px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-67764-1\" width=\"360\" height=\"640\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/VID-20231129-WA0002.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/VID-20231129-WA0002.mp4\">https:\/\/everyday.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/VID-20231129-WA0002.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p><strong>The video of the Transition of power from Weah to Boakai.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 28px;\"><b>End of an era: How corruption in Liberia cost George Weah the presidency<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\"><i>In six years, Liberia\u2019s most famous citizen became unpopular enough to lose the presidential vote to a man he defeated in 2017.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">By\u00a0<strong>James Harding Giahyue<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\"><b>Monrovia, Liberia<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">\u00a0\u2013 On January 22, 2018, a cheering crowd welcomed George Weah to the Samuel K Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville, outside Liberia\u2019s capital, Monrovia. But the man once crowned the world\u2019s best footballer was not there to add to his 75 matches for the Lone Stars, Liberia\u2019s senior national football team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">It was his\u00a0inauguration\u00a0as the West African nation\u2019s 25th president. Those present, like many Liberians glued to television sets at home and in the diaspora were brimming with hope at the expected transformation that his presidency would bring, just as his football career had given them joy and pride.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">\u201cIt is my belief that the most effective way to directly impact the poor and to narrow the gap between rich and poor is to ensure that public resources do not end up in the pockets of government officials,\u201d Weah said in his inaugural address.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Weah had gone from a slum dweller in one of the poorest areas of one of the world\u2019s poorest countries to the only African winner of the Ballon d\u2019Or, football\u2019s most coveted prize, and to\u00a0Liberia\u2019s highest office. His election win made headlines across the world, and his inauguration speech seemed as convincing as his ball-striking prowess had been.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">\u201cI further believe that the overwhelming mandate I received from the Liberian people is a mandate to end corruption in public service,\u201d Weah told rapturous supporters, many of whom had survived corruption-fueled, back-to-back civil wars in the 1990s and 2000s, which killed more than 250,000 people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Almost six years on, Liberia\u2019s most famous citizen dead or alive has become unpopular to the point of losing the presidential vote to a man whom he defeated in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Last week, Weah, 57, conceded\u00a0defeat\u00a0to former Vice President Joseph Boakai, 78, after a November 14 run-off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">There are several reasons why voters denied Weah a second term, including his failure to establish a war crimes court for the country and the ripple effects of a\u00a0drug epidemic. However, one issue stands out: corruption. It drove some of the biggest\u00a0protests\u00a0the country has seen since the end of Liberia\u2019s second civil war in 2003.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">\u201c[Weah] promised to \u2018weed out the menace of corruption\u2019; however, greed and graft have become the hallmarks of his presidency,\u201d said Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian academic, activist and author based in London. \u201cPresident Weah squandered practically every opportunity to score the country\u2019s most important goal of socioeconomic transformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><b>A banknote scandal<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">For decades, Liberia has been ranked as one of the world\u2019s most corrupt countries, but that notoriety reached its lowest depths under Weah. Since 2018, Liberia has averaged 29 points out of a possible 100 on Transparency International\u2019s corruption perceptions index. It currently ranks\u00a0136 out of 180 countries. In the six years before Weah, Liberia had averaged nearly 39 points.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Corruption became synonymous with Weah\u2019s government from the very beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">First, Weah refused to publicly declare his assets despite doing so in 2005 when he first ran for office. His officials followed suit, ignoring his mandate to declare theirs. But there was more ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Just nine months into this presidency, the Liberian press reported the alleged disappearance of 15.5 billion Liberian dollars (US$96m at the time) in banknotes, approximately five percent of the country\u2019s gross domestic product. An inquiry by Kroll, a Philadelphia-based firm funded by the United States government, revealed that the banknotes had not gone missing but had been illegally printed. The investigation also found that US$16.5m had been printed in excess and was unaccounted for.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Several officials of the Central Bank of Liberia, including Charles Sirleaf, a son of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, were charged and\u00a0jailed\u00a0for alleged economic sabotage, bribery, and criminal facilitation but were released, and their charges were later dropped.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Two months before the missing banknotes scandal, Weah had injected US$25m into the economy to extract the excess Liberian dollars in circulation. In a national address, Weah said the injection would curb inflation and the depreciation of the Liberian currency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">This, too, led to another scandal. \u00a0An examination by Liberia\u2019s General Auditing Commission found several\u00a0discrepancies\u00a0with disbursements. Some of the funds had not been accounted for, and staff had not used the government-approved rate for some transactions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 26px;\"><b>The end of an era<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Anderson Miamen, the lead campaigner at the Centre for Accountability and Transparency in Liberia, a partner of Transparency International, believes Liberians voted Weah out because of corruption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">\u201cEverywhere we went, people asked questions about the situation of corruption in the country and what the government is doing about it. In the different reports that we\u2019ve done over the years, citizens have expressed disappointment in the government\u2019s lack of strong will to deal with corruption,\u201d Miamen said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">After four national auditors died in just over a week in 2020, public mistrust of the Weah government over corruption heightened in the country of 5.2 million people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">First, Albert Peters and Gifty Lama of the Liberia Revenue Authority were discovered dead in a car in Monrovia on October 2. Pathologists found they died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to the car\u2019s defective exhaust system.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Next, George Fahnboto, another auditor of the Liberia Revenue Authority, died from head wounds in an apparent car crash just outside Monrovia on October 4.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Then Emmanuel Nyeswa, head of Liberia\u2019s Internal Auditing Agency, died on October 10, 2020. His body was found lying outside his home with head wounds in the same neighborhood as Fahnboto. The result of his autopsy was inconclusive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">The deaths of the auditors sparked outrage. The public rejected the outcomes of the autopsies while the US-based Institute of Internal Auditors asked then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to help Liberia investigate the deaths.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">That assistance did not come. However, the US sanctioned three senior members of Weah\u2019s government over corruption. Nathaniel McGill, minister of state; Bill Twehway, managing director of the Freeport of Monrovia; and Serenius Cephas, solicitor general, were sanctioned for \u201ctheir involvement in public sector corruption in Liberia\u201d. The trio resigned their posts, but no one was prosecuted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">The continued lack of consequences for the elite ultimately hurt the man at the helm, analysts said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">\u201cWe believe that it played a part in the way people voted,\u201d Miamen said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really live by his word.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Video Source: Social Media<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 19px;\">Report Source: AL JAZEERA<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--\/data\/user\/0\/com.samsung.android.app.notes\/files\/clipdata\/clipdata_bodytext_231129_044235_923.sdocx--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The video of the Transition of power from Weah to Boakai. End of an era: How corruption in Liberia cost George Weah the presidency In six years, Liberia\u2019s most famous citizen became unpopular enough to lose the presidential vote to a man he defeated in 2017. By\u00a0James Harding Giahyue Monrovia, Liberia\u00a0\u2013 On January 22, 2018, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5787],"tags":[864,5546,6378],"class_list":["post-67764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","category-world","tag-corruption","tag-transition","tag-weah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}