–Weah tells supporters, as party officially launches campaign
Incumbent President George Manneh Weah has bragged about being the best president in the history of Liberia while addressing thousands of supporters on his re-election campaign launch.
“My work in the past five years has made me the best president since the foundation of Liberia,” President Weah said during his official campaign launch on Thursday, 7 September 2023 in Monrovia.
Mr. Weah faces his archrivals Amb. Joseph Nyumah Boakai, Alexander B. Cummings, and 17 other presidential candidates in the presidential and legislative elections due 10 October 2023.
After nearly six years in power, this year’s presidential polls will test Mr. Weah’s popularity among grass rooters who helped him to win the presidency against former Liberian vice president Amb. Boakai in a 2017 run-off.
Voters might support candidates for various reasons, but some of the triggers might be tied to how the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)-led government approached the country’s economic issues, infrastructure, security, corruption, and citizens’ general welfare.
With thirty-two days to the presidential polls, Mr. Weah and his CDC executives and partisans assembled at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium (ATS) down Lynch Street in central Monrovia Thursday to officially launch the party’s campaign.
During the campaign launch, Mr. Weah bragged that he is the best president since the founding of Liberia.
“I George M. Weah … remain the best president in the history of Liberia,” he said.
According to him, the CDC under his leadership has done a lot in the history of Liberia.
Mr. Weah named the construction of roads, hospital, and provision of free tuition as things that have made him the best president in the history of the country.
President Weah thanked the chairman and political leaders of the CDC for organizing the campaign launch.
“Fellow partisans, we gather here today to show to the world that we are the people’s party. We did it before and we can do it again,” said President Weah.
“There is no political prisoner in this country. As we speak, we have gender equality and women empowerment, youth empowerment and participation in government,” Weah continued.
We said a lot has been achieved together, pleading with his supporters to vote for him and his running mate Madam Jewel Howard-Taylor for a better Liberia.
“To our first-time voters, you have made the right choice to vote the CDC as the real party that understands Liberia’s problem,” Mr. Weah continued.
He questioned the opposition Unity Party’s camping which is named the ‘Rescue Mission,’ pondering what exactly the party is rescuing when it lost every opportunity it was afforded during its 12 years rule.
“To those that [are] claiming to be rescuer, ask them what they have rescued since the foundation of Liberia?” Weah told his supporters.
He said the Unity Party did not rescue the bad road, the unemployment, the lack of tuition, and the poor healthcare system.
“No, if they failed to rescue all that, how can they rescue you?” Weah wondered.
He suggested that the former ruling Unity Party squandered all its opportunities. But under his rule, Mr. Weah argued that parents do not have to struggle to pay fees for their children’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
“They no longer have to send their children to private universities because I have provided free school across this country,” he noted.
President Weah vowed to reactivate the cadet program to give young people the opportunity to gain work experience while they are in school.
Weah said it’s time to work together to move the country forward. He thanked the people for their resilience, love for country, adding that he will never make them shame.