By Jerry J. Gbardy, Political & Social Commentator
Dr. H. Boima Fahnbulleh’s assertion that George Weah is unfit to be president as was reported in the August 11th edition of the New Dawn newspaper which, in my opinion is borne out of sheer envy and jealousy, is a 21st Century rubbish that cannot slide without a rebuttal. Oh but wait, I would like to let the Doctor know that he has just picked a fight with the wrong guy by declaring a political warfare that we are prepared to fight to the bitterest end.
A quick comparative analysis reveals the following truths: Boima Fahnbulleh was born and grew up in a privileged class while George Weah was born in a family that lived below the poverty line. A young Fahnbulleh ate three meals a day while contrastingly; George Weah went to bed hungry almost every day in the slum of Clara Town. Fahnbulleh attended all the best schools in the world including boarding school at tender age because his family could afford; but George Weah on the other hand, walked around barefoot, half naked in the Clara Town slum, attending balling school because opportunities for support in regular schooling were not readily available to him. His grandmother with whom he lived was dirt poor.
Fahnbulleh has “five” PhDs (excuse my hyperbole) and has lived a politician throughout his life in an ivory tower and very unpopular at this stage of his life. Comparatively, George Weah on the other hand, relatively young and immensely popular, has zero PhD but is humble, down to earth, and loved by the Liberian people. By being a politician, Fahnbulleh who is member of the generation of antiquated, recycled politicians who adamantly refuse to surrender an inch of political space to the present generation, is claiming a false sense of entitlement to the presidency of Liberia while George Weah with no PhD, was popularly drafted by the people to be their leader.
In 1985, Fahnbulleh escorted the young General Thomas Quiwonkpa to his death in what came to be referred to as the November 12 Invasion when at that time, George Weah was still attending Well-Hairston High School and playing football for IE and the Lone Star in Monrovia. In the late 1980s and early 1990s when Fahnbulleh led a group of young Liberian men under the banner of the Popular Democratic Front for training in guerilla warfare in Libya to bring untold suffering, death, mayhem, and destruction to Liberia and its people – which they actually did; George Weah was playing professional football for AS Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan and bringing joy, happiness, and hope to the destitute people and uplifting the spirit of the nation, Liberia.
Let it be known that many of Fahnbulleh’s Popular Democratic Front fighters were arrested in a Freetown hotel in 1991 by Sierra Leonean security apparatus and taken to the notorious Padema Road State prison in the city. Family members of those arrested and some of us who were in Sierra Leone at that time are still interested in knowing what happened to those Fahnbulleh rebel fighters.
Both Fahnbulleh and Weah are standard bearers of their respective political parties. Fahnbulleh represents a skeletal moribund, decadent Liberia People’s Party – a party of the past that has nothing new to offer the country while its elites, including Amos Sawyer, continue to milk the proverbial old Liberian economic cow to their personal benefits. Contrastingly, George Weah represents an active, thriving grass root political party, the CDC – the party of the future of Liberia that has the potential to make Liberia great.
As President Ellen Johnson’s handbag-toting National Security Advisor, Standard Bearer Fahnbulleh is promising if elected, to continue Madam Ellen Johnson’s legacy of theft and plunder of the Liberian economy while Standard Bearer George Weah is promising the Liberian people if elected, he will lift the downtrodden masses from poverty to prosperity.
Herein lies the crux of the jealousy and envy: Fahnbulleh, as standard bearer who feels a sense of entitlement to the Liberian presidency, can call a political rally at a month’s notice with only a handful of people attending. But Weah, George Weah can call a political rally at a moment’s notice and guess what, 1 million people will attend. This is a historical fact that the Liberian people have seen time and time again as is clearly proven by the August 19th campaign launching which ultimately locked down Monrovia. In the present Liberian political context, this is referred to as the WEAH FACTOR, a phenomenon that no current Liberian politician can compete with.
So, Dr. Fahnbulleh should just do himself a favor by shutting up. He has lost all sense of political relevance in this new political order in the country. He therefore has no moral authority to tell anybody and for that matter, Senator George Weah that he is unfit to be president. The present and future generations of Liberians do not know Fahnbulleh and will not vote for him. They cannot eat rhetoric – empty talk with no substance — which Dr. Fahnbulleh possesses aplenty. I can and will debate this issue with him further anytime and anywhere.
Editor’s Note: The content the article is purely the ideas and ownership of the author.
