A baffled Liberian-born, award-winning poet, Comrade Leader, Geeplay Cherbo, asked intriguingly: “What’s special about this VIP Lounge, cde. leader?” Our award-winning poet is irrefutably a respected journalist and a poet by every stretch of imagination.
We need not clumsily engage in any unwarranted tutorial here after all. But “news is what you know now that you didn’t know before.” News is and encapsulates an act of novelty! Newsmakers cruise along the path of “prominence, proximity, timeliness, novelty et al…”
Named in honor of former First Lady, Clare Marie Weah, former President George Weah told journalists at the Roberts International Airport (RIA), that the magnificently built new state of the art VIP Lounge at the country’s lone international airport evolved out of a visit to Congo-Brazzaville. Surely, that was aptly put as it were. It is welcoming that our leaders would visit a foreign land and bring back fond memories for replication. Weah did not just visit Congo-Brazzaville as a leader.
But was Brazzaville former President George Weah’s only cum singular most recollection? Weah was extensively on a globetrotting spree during the last six years. At the height of his soccer career, he similarly enjoyed a touristic lifestyle. While Liberians ultimately have something to celebrate in the name of a state of the art VIP Lounge at RIA, Had Weah been genuinely patriotic, he could have done far more than he did at the helm of power. He squandered a glorious opportunity.
Barely 48 hours to the inauguration of a new President, George Weah hastily dedicated the Clare Marie Weah VIP Lounge. He was right! It happened on his watch! It would have been foolhardy to allow his successor to claim any glory. But Weah seized the moment to take credit for major road projects initiated by his predecessor, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf that were completed during his tenure without any acknowledgment to the former president.
His pseudo loyalists childishly called it ‘visionary’ – oops. A vision is about imaginatively conceiving an idea of, and buttressing it by leading, building and assembling like-minds of committed followership aimed at sustainability. Ironically, that was not the case. Weah instead led a cartel of looters and pillagers – thus betraying the trust of the masses that had elected him.
In all fairness, we must congratulate former President, George Weah for at least achieving one remarkable feat if you may. The state of the art VIP Lounge would magnify our image because it is positioned at the gateway of the nation. Most often than not – we celebrate these kinds of development only to realize that a sustainability plan is found wanting. But Weah has surely done his bid and will be remembered as such.
The Sports parks randomly built across Monrovia were pursued without a plan and met to sound engineering standards. The people want jobs. Instead, rather than addressing livelihood or survival questions, you built sports parks that won’t place food on their tables. Gosh!
