Do we like George Weah?
Our score: 5 out of 10. We found nothing harmful in his own words or acts, but his government's record and unkept promises pull him back to the middle.
Weah is the footballer who made it all the way to the presidency, then lost it. Joseph Boakai beat him in the November 2023 run-off, and Weah conceded on 18 November. Since then he has stayed a loud public voice, both on Liberian politics and on football.
The big mark against him is the company his government kept. He promised “a mandate to end corruption in public service”, but in August 2022 the US Treasury sanctioned three senior officials, alleging bribery and at least US$1.5 million in diverted public funds. Weah suspended them and accepted their resignations a month later, after critics said he should have sacked them. Two of the three denied the accusations, and Al Jazeera reports no one was prosecuted.
On justice for Liberia's civil wars, he blew hot and cold. In September 2019 he wrote to the legislature backing an economic and war crimes court, which rights groups welcomed. By the 2023 election analysts were pointing out that he had never set one up.
Lately it's been scrappy. In February he alleged that the head of Liberia's electricity regulator had bought his stolen Mercedes from his driver, and he dragged Boakai into it. The official called the claims “false, reckless, and malicious”, and no formal investigation had been confirmed at the time. In March he also hit out at CAF for stripping Senegal of the Cup of Nations title, saying matches should be decided on the pitch.
So where does that leave us? Nothing harmful from him personally turned up, and the rape emergency and the war crimes court letter are real points in his favour, even if follow-through was patchy. Against that sits a government whose senior officials were sanctioned over alleged graft and an anti-corruption promise that voters, per Al Jazeera, felt went unmet. Fair to call it a close call.