I have been vindicated by the confession of Senator George Weah three months later after the news surfaced that he did speak with Charles Taylor.
I think the CDC people owe us an apology after the many insults and denials, especially I in particular and for every opportunity I undertook for a CDC representative (my friend Wilson Tarpeh) to appear on my friend James Butty’s VOA to give a rebuttal to Mr. Alan White’s claim.
This is heartbreaking news for many of us who had done all we could to support Mr. Weah in both the 2005 and 2011 presidential elections, and also his senatorial run in 2014.
I recall Rep. Acarous Gray accused me of being a “paid PR man for Mr. Joseph Boakai” during his appearance on the Liberia Destiny Debaters radio program about this same story. I was challenged to “provide the evidence” that Senator George Manneh Weah had spoken to former dictator Charles Taylor, a convicted war criminal.
To buttress Mr. White’s claim, I was then given the names by my confidential sources within the US intelligence apparatus which I published of those who were with Mr. Weah and who all spoke with Mr. Taylor that very day from a bathroom in Weah’s house.
“Why would Mr. Weah go in the bathroom to speak with Mr. Taylor”, Mr. Varney Sackie, “the CDC-USA Representative” retorted on the very radio program.
The unnamed “someone who is close to President Taylor” according to Mr. Weah whose phone was used to initiate the call to Mr. Taylor was identified by our US sources as former “NPFL General Daniel Bracewell.”
We named them all including Mr. Weah, former Speaker Alex Tyler, Tyler’s LPDP Party Chairman and Mr. Kollie, the former Chairman of the House, Ways and Means Committe. Yet still we were branded as liars. Glad now the cat is out of the bag.
But why wait this long Senator George Manneh Weah?
This is not a presidential behavior to wait three months before addressing a controversial issue. You must be able to man up and address a crisis as it emerges and not keep people in suspense for months only to later admit to it.
There are other implications associated with this story that Senator Weah should have carefully studied before talking to Taylor and agreeing to partner with his killer-NPFL rebel group later turned-NPP political party.
How does Senator Weah comfort the families of the 250,000 Liberians who were murxered in the civil war engineered by Charles Taylor and his sponsors who funded him? Do you tell them all is forgiven and they should vote for you?
What is Senator Weah’s position on a future War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia which will soon become a reality revardless of who wins in the Liberian presidential elections? Mr. Alan White alluded to that also in his revelation?
Was there a qui-pro-quo deal that was reached between Mr. Weah and Mr. Taylor as alleged by Mr. White?
Because one of Mr. White’s allegations was later proven to be correct that Taylor wanted Weah to carry his wife Jewel Taylor as Weah’s Vice President?
Was there also exchange of money as part of the deal from Taylor and his associates which Mr. White also mentioned? Or are the CDC going to demand yet another “evidence” of any money transfer which our US sources tell us is available?
Only Senator Weah will live with the consequences of his political marriage with Charles Taylor and the remnants of Taylor’s criminal past. Weah did well in both the 2005 and 2011 elections on his own strength. So why does he think he needs Charles Taylor and his people now?
As far as the people of Grand Gedeh County are concerned and in my conversation with their political leaders in both Liberia and here in America, Senator Weah has written them off by tagging on to Charles Taylor and his NPP.
They said with all that Samuel Doe did to help Weah’s soccer career, “why would Weah stab us in the chest with the NPFL butcger knife,” the Grand Gedeans asked. I didn’t have an answer for them then and now.
Equally so, does Senator Weah think his partnership with the NPFL-NPP will win over the Gio-Mano Nimba vote? Did he factor these equations into his decision to align with the Taylir people?
Well, politics can create strange bedfellows and we will not know until the elections outcome about the political calculations and wisdom and the risks/benefits of the Weah decision and now his late confession of doing business with “the devil you know than the angel you have yet to see”.
All I can say is good luck with no hard feelings. From your fellow Kru man.
Jerry Wehtee Wion,
Journalist and Political Commentator
Washington, DC, USA
