The Day Monrovia Stood Still: Can Weah, CDC Numbers Translate into Victory? (July 15, 2011)
Moses Davis was up as early as 5am Friday in anticipation of his idol’s arrival. George Weah, who rose from the slums of Claratown to become one of the biggest footballers in the history of the game, arrived along with his Congress for Democratic Change’s standard bearer Winston Tubman Friday to what many describe as the biggest crowd puller since the campaign days of the 2005 elections.
The return marked Weah’s first since acquiring his university degree in Business Management with emphasis in small business and entrepreneurship, from the accredited online American University, DeVry, branch in Miami Florida.
Weah, along with the man he gave way to assume the standard bearer-ship of his Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), Tubman, drew thousands of grassroot supporters mainly from Monrovia’s slum communities and other parts of the capital as well as other parts of the country sacrificed the entire day to welcome home the return of the man they have come to love the more since he ventured into politics six years ago.
Blessed with a sunny day, the fans, sympathizers and supporters of the CDC began by gathering at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) in Margibi County and upon receipt of their standard and vice standard bearers continued with hours-long parade of a crowded convoy throughout Paynesville via the Somalia Drive in Gardnesville and onto Bushrod Island before passing through Central Monrovia and up to Sinkor to meet hundreds of other waiting partisans at their National Headquarters.
The ceremonial and massive arrival of Weah reawakened the debate over his perceived dwindling popularity further seemed strengthened by his decision to runsecond man on the ticket to Ambassador Tubman.
That Weah lost a second round to now incumbent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in ’05, many who took to the streets Friday were unsure what to make of it although critics and opposition are already suggesting that the numbers, while massive Friday, fell short of CDC’s campaign rally in 2005 while diminishing the impact of Weah acquiring his college degree.
The numbers then, as it was Friday were massive but CDC only managed 28 percent of the votes enough to win the first round. Its closest rival, Sirleaf pulled 19 percent. As his convoy finally landed at the CDC headquarters in Congotown Friday,, late into the evening, Weah suggested to his supporters that “Ellen rigged” ’05 elections.”
The CDC number two man went on to say that he was happy not because his supporters shut the streets of Monrovia down Friday but because as he put it “you’ve shown commitment because they said CDC was finished.” Supporters like Nancy Dorbor agrees: We printed our own T-Shirts while Unity Party sending to China to spend millions on T-Shirts and other campaign supplies. You do the math. This is a grass root movement, a Tsunami wave that can’t be stopped.”
Crunching the numbers, in the Concerned Liberians chat-room, a venting ground for Liberians in the Diaspora and in Monrovia, Darius Dillon, formerly of the opposition Liberty Party now a ruling Unity Party supporter, blogged: “They pulled an unimaginable crowd”. Nevertheless, Dillon added: “The results of 2005, notwithstanding the crowd-pulling, showed a completely different result. "And so it goes".
Criticism of the CDC, Weah rally also drew criticism from Wilmot Paye, secretary-general of the ruling Unity Party, who discounted Weah's achievement, saying, to the Associated Press that it takes more than a college degree to run a country. "People are trying to make noise about his achievement as a college-degree holder. But that is not a basis upon which Weah should, or can, be elected. It is about experience," Paye said. "Even if he were to be employed by a company, they would take him as a starter," he said.
Weah, 44, surprised many earlier this year when he succumbed to pressure within his own party to come to the realization that despite his popularity, Liberians could never elect him President and that perhaps he had to learn the ropes and perhaps run second to a more experienced candidate. That experience came when Weah agreed to run number two to Ambassador Tubman. Tubman, a former United Nations Special Representative to Sudan, came to tears upon witnessing perhaps the biggest rally he has been a part of in his political career.
Weah’s education lapses were a key distraction to his 2005 bid. A FrontPage Africa investigation in ’05 found that the university listed on Weah’s CV posted on CDC website at the time was obtained from a diploma mill. Weah’s Sports Management degree, the investigation found was from Parkwood University, which had been accused of selling phony diplomas, according to an expose on the practice by the University of Illinois, which showed that every aspect of the college's website down to the president's message to students had been plagiarized from that of an accredited university.
In the backdrop of Friday’s massive CDC-Weah triumphant return, Liberians are still divided over whether the crowd pulled by Weah, Tubman and the CDC can translate into victory at the polls later this year. While supporters are already hailing the turnout as a sober rejection of the ruling Unity Party’s governance, others are convinced that it is still too early to draw conclusions.
Culled from FrontPageAfricaonline.com
