U.S.-BASED LIBERIAN: “WEAH IS NOT A LEADER”

By Olando Testimony Zeongar

MASSACHUSETTS, USA – Mr. Ansu O. Dualu, a Liberian financial professional working in the United States, has declared that President George Weah is not a leader, and as such he should be voted out of office during the 2023 presidential election.

Liberians are scheduled to go to the polls in barely 10 months’ time for the country’s general and presidential elections to elect a president, vice president, and several lawmakers into both houses of the Legislature.

But Dualu warns that reelecting President Weah to continue being at the helm of political power in Liberia poses what he termed as an existential threat to the country.

“Mr. Weah is not a leader but a man-child; he’s a curse that must be permanently excluded from political life,” Dualu, the author of several articles proffering suggestions as to solving some of Liberia’s perennial national problems, wrote recently.

He indicated that after January 2024, the new government that may oust Weah from power, should arrest him, put him on trial and if convicted, forever imprison the Liberian leader, who Dualu described as as national disgrace, along with those he called his (Weah’s) criminal gang for all the harm they have brought on the people of Liberia.

He further rallied Liberian electorate to relieve Weah of the presidency at the polls during the 2023 presidential election, adding that the CDC Standard Bearer can neither lead nor does he want to lead.

“He cannot lead nor does he want to! This man-child must be relieved of this awesome responsibility because he is not capable of delivering to the people what this role mandates,” Duala noted, adding that President Weah does not even understand what leadership is.

He called on Liberians to vote Weah out of office or stand the chance to experience a country of total backwardness, bone-crunching poverty, hyper criminality, teenage prostitution and what he termed as extreme “zogoism”, plus all the ills of a pariah state.

He then pointed out bluntly that “Continuing with President Weah could possibly cause our country to implode. His lack of ethical principles, leadership indiscipline, and lapse in morality are a burden to the country.”

He accuses President Weah of indulging into a dysfunctional leadership style, which he observed, robs Liberia of countless opportunities for growth.

“His leadership approach leads to misuse and wastage of scarce resources, entrenches privilege and inequality, undermines constitutional guidelines with lasting consequences, especially for the most vulnerable population,” Dualu wrote.

He wrote further that President Weah has a lackadaisical style, which the Liberian financial professional claims breaks down law and order, increases corruption and income inequality, and undermines the legitimacy of government and democratic values.

He pointed out that President Weah is incapable of inspiring growth and defining a national vision, and that the Liberian leader lacks discipline in any crucial governing area except kicking around a ball, which Duala indicated has left Liberians and Liberia much poorer in all aspects of development.

He then cautioned that until Liberians make a turnaround and attach immediate compensatory and punitive measures against officials who flagrantly harm the people and require that leaders of the country entirely commit to serving the people, have integrity, subscribe to higher moral principles, formulate a realistic vision that they themselves can articulate and implement in Liberia, Liberia will be stuck in a place of shame, disgrace, and Third World backwardness.

He further warned that Liberians should never again make what he described as a such colossal mistake of electing those he referred to as bottom feeders who he said, do not meet the leadership characteristics that ensure success.

“National leadership requires a whole lot more than the superficial hoopla that brought this man-child to power. Leadership requires you to be self-managing, an effective communicator with a higher intellect, a strategic thinker, and a voracious reader. Our leaders must set clear goals and be persistent in achieving them, manage complexities, and foster creativities and innovation to ensure national aspirations come to fruition. The president must be decisive, calculative, and has the capacity to influence his subordinates to bring them to action,” wrote Dualu, who maintained that President Weah possesses none of these vital leadership traits.