Monrovia – President George Manneh Weah was in his comfort zone Sunday as he took to the pulpit to deliver the sermon at Rev. Isaac Winkler’s Dominion Christian Fellowship Church during which he threw pointed jabs at those calling for his removal from the presidency just two years after his inauguration.
The President, who has been widely criticized for not addressing Liberians in the midst of a dismal economic downturn, quipped: “I have an opportunity to talk to your; ehn your want me talk?”
‘This is All Wrong’ – Rant Against ‘Little Boy’
The President’s comments come on the eve of a protest being planned by the Council of Patriots for Monday, January 6, 2020.
“What we are doing is wrong because I listen to everybody and where somebody, a little boy who is not in the element of the presidency; where my own life, Ousmana Weah, he and myself can go on Carey Street, I slap him two, three times I move from there, that the man will insult me every day and you Liberians accept that, how? How can someone go on Facebook insulting my mother, insulting my children, insulting me and you agree. And you agree. How?”
– President George Manneh Weah
Despite several interventions from the inter-religious council and the international community, organizers of the protests are vowing to go on.
In his element Sunday, the President slammed Liberians for standing by and doing or saying nothing while talk show host Henry Costa insults his mother and children daily without repercussions. “This is wrong. All the wrong and bad behavior you accept it because it’s Manneh Weah.”
Saying he is a good listener, the President lamented that he has been unhappy over the manner in which he is repeatedly being insulted. “What we are doing is wrong because I listen to everybody and where somebody, a little boy who is not in the element of the presidency; where my own life, Ousmana Weah, he and myself can go on Carey Street, I slap him two, three times I move from there, that the man will insult me every day and you Liberians accept that, how? How can someone go on Facebook insulting my mother, insulting my children, insulting me and you agree. And you agree. How?”
The President said when he was a kid, if he were to abuse a woman, people would say, ‘what kind of man this’?
Today, he says, nobody is talking. “But it’s ok for the same people to come and jump in the street and say they protesting and put their children in the street – and your sit down – and its ok.”
Playing the Ethnic Card
Insinuating that he is being singled out because of his ethnic background, President Weah averred: “They now going after the President that came from Clara Town and Gibralta; but the President that came from Louisville, Charlesville and other villes, you can never insult them because they are special people. Your need to stop! Those are the people that did your wrong. You see me, I’m not a perfect person but a kind and good person.”
The President also threw jabs at those trying to label him as being supporting a warring faction during the civil war. “People try to frame me and link me to rebel groups, but I Manneh Weah can never been associated with any rebel group.”
Instead, President Weah said, he did nothing but bring joy to Liberia as one of the leading footballers of his generation. “Your sat down here, I was the shining star here and tried to portray the image of Liberia when you all were fighting war. I was in every refugee camp when your sat here and people burned my homes and closed my businesses down, it was good because they say the boy want to run.”
Today, the President explained that the same people are now running around taking aim at his government. “These are the same people running around the street and you accept it. You guys are doing wrong to this nation. People that do not have voice are the ones they are giving voice to,” the president declared in an apparent reference to Mr. Costa.
The President said he won the 2017 president elections fair and square and lamented that many are trying to shorten his presidency unfairly. “You went to a democratic process, two terms, what happened to me. If it happened to any of your, there would be war all over the place. Fraudulent elections – and you saw it live, I walked away for the sake of this nation. Even those we sat at the table with and say your please give us this chance for the sake of Liberia, these are the people on the streets today. They forgot that for the sake of Liberia, they forgot. Have they forgotten, that for the sake of Liberia here?”
The President continued: “During their time it was for the sake of Liberia, during our time, Liberia doesn’t matter. Please!”
The President also took aim at tax dodgers he says are denying the country much-needed revenues that could go toward building schools and paying salaries. “Your come to your senses. Please! This country does not need what is going on. When you talking about economic issues, you don’t even pay your taxes. I bet if you go around, most of you have not paid your taxes which we depend on to pay your taxes and build schools. You got people here running in the streets, they owe government US$14 million, $US13 million, when government go behind them, they wish hunting.”
‘Parents Have to Understand’ Sometimes
“When people were in leadership, I never experienced electricity. But those same people that are no longer in leadership are experiencing electricity today and experiencing the best roads in the area that they live. My neighbors, they know themselves. For twelve years, water did not pass in our community, the only light that passed went straight to their homes. We walk in dirt in that area, today, we all walking on cement or paved roads, that the same people going in the street to say the government, this the government that.”
President George Manneh Weah
Turning to Bishop Winkler, the President said while he has been an easy listener to advice from the clergyman, he has his own mind. “I just want you to know that Bishop, I’ve always listened to you and everything you tell me to do I do, but sometimes our parents have to understand that sometimes we have to have our own mind. I take you advice and everything you have said to me, since I came to power is what you see around here.”
In what appears to be a subtle jab at former Vice President Joseph Boakai, whom he slammed recently, the President said things are much better under his leadership then when Boakai’s Unity Party ran the country.
“When people were in leadership, I never experienced electricity. But those same people that are no longer in leadership are experiencing electricity today and experiencing the best roads in the area that they live. My neighbors, they know themselves. For twelve years, water did not pass in our community, the only light that passed went straight to their homes. We walk in dirt in that area, today, we all walking on cement or paved roads, that the same people going in the street to say the government, this the government that.”
He encouraged Liberians to be resolute in the new year in a bid to achieve their goals in life. “This is a new year, your resolution should be a resolution of not to sit down and wait, you should go for your star, go for your star and reach out, do not sit.”