By Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
Outgoing President George Weah has built for himself a reputation as a peace-oriented man. His recent concession to Amb. Joseph Boakai before the official announcement of the final election results by the National Elections Commission, as well as his sweet relationships with some close party friends, including the likes of Nathaniel McGill, Jefferson Koijee, and Acarus Gray, hints that he’s the man in charge of his government and has full oversight of his party’s workings.
However, not everyone in the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) would agree with me that Mr. Weah was a good person. Few members of the party’s executive, like Cyril Allen and Lester Tenny, have been vocal and critical of him, even on public radio, and made multiple disagreeable comments in some areas in government.
In June of 2023, Dr. Lester Tenny, who is currently the Dean of the college of Business and Public administration at the University of Liberia, claimed that the President was being micromanaged by a few aides, which made it difficult for him to make independent decisions, noting that, “Since Weah is being micromanaged, he appears to believe that the living condition of his people has improved, when in fact, it is getting worse daily.”
The once Vice president for Technical Services at the National Oil Company of Liberia, claimed in a widely circulated radio interview that the Liberian leader’s inability to make independent decisions has led to him frequently taking direction from aides.
He argued that President Weah needed to detach himself from the strange bedfellows if his chance of remaining the people’s choice for continuity is to be guaranteed. He described the bedfellows as the newcomers who chose to exclude the grass-rooters of the party.
“They are micromanaging the President and the Presidency and have excluded CDCians from even meeting their political leader. They are CDCians, but they came in late,” he asserted.
“What the people voted for in 2017 is not what they have today, as suffering is even more in the country. The ordinary people stood with Weah, not because he was best qualified or had the sophistication needed for the Presidency, but because they believed because of his background of being part of the excluded class, a class of poor people, he could have been cognizant of the plight of his ordinary supporters and made the needed difference in transforming their lives.”
He added that many, including himself, did not join the governing party on the basis that Weah being the best candidate, but on the belief that he could have constituted a team that would bring about changes and improve the lives of the people.
“We didn’t join the CDC because we were of the opinion that George Weah was the best candidate, but we believed he could have configured a team that would lead a change. We compromised everything. People were insulting us. They felt that nobody in their right mind would want to identify with CDC as a party that has been perceived as a party of hooligans, thugs, and lawless people. But our presence brought some sense of balance and sanity. I am a party man.”
“The ordinary people and I stood with Weah not because he was best qualified or had the sophistication needed for the Presidency, but because we counted on his past efforts then to unite the national soccer team and his poverty background as a yardstick for ascendancy to the Presidency.”
Following that interview, many CDCians and fervent supporters of President Weah countered Dr. Tenny’s assertion about the President and the party, claiming that he (Tenny) spoke out of frustration and had nothing substantial to offer.
Over the six years of his Presidency, the Weah-led government has come under strong criticisms from the opposition bloc and from within the CDC, for alleged extra judicial and ritualistic killings, including the unexplained deaths of five auditors, the three missing boys from the St. Moses Funeral Parlors, the poor economic status of the country, among others.
To add more fuel to the fire, barely two weeks after his concession to Amb. Joseph of the Unity Party, the President blamed his party for his loss and expressed extreme disappointment in the Coalition for Democratic (CDC) and lamented that the insincerity within the party contributed to his defeat in November.
In an unapologetic posture, President Weah noted that he was dissatisfied and pointed fingers at the party’s executives and those who contested in the October 10 polls after losing during the party’s primaries, accusing them of lack of support for the CDC’s Presidential quest and jeopardizing the majority seats at the Legislature.
The President, who promised return to the presidential race in 2029, emphasized that without unity within the CDC, victory is not guaranteed. He obstinately stated that he would not allow himself to be used as a sacrificial lamb to satisfy a few, while potentially plunging Liberia into a civil crisis, stating, “I will not be the sacrificial lamb. We will not sacrifice our children, friends, families for people’s desires. I did not take a decision, as I recognized we were defeated because we defeated ourselves and there was no need to fight.”
“I hear people saying, ‘In 2029, we will bounce back,’ but we will only bounce back if we are sincere to ourselves. Stop the division, apply the rules, and support the party and those on the party’s tickets.”
President Weah however expressed frustration over the lack of commitment to the CDC’s revolutionary ideals that brought them to power in 2017. He noted that self-interests took precedence, resulting in individuals campaigning against each other and urged CDC members to prioritize unity over personal ambitions, echoing the sentiment that success could only be achieved through sincere collaboration and adherence to the party’s principles.
But in what appears to be an outburst against President Weah’s statement against the CDC for the lack of commitment of some party stalwarts, which led to his defeat in November, Dr. Lester Tenny is now in the public and has criticized the Weah-led government for bad governance, poor leadership, and its refusal to meet the basic needs of the Liberian people and proffer recommendations to help the government mitigate some of the challenges the government was faced with.
Tenny’s recent public outburst against President Weah, especially following the loss of an election, is attracting lots of attention, as he (Tenny) is heading for a political knock out against the President.
I can imagine how the opposition political parties are watching, listening, and silently chanting, “Yor lee dem dey na equal” and just laughed.
On Monday, December 4, 2023, Dr. Lester Tenny, a curator and founding member of the Congress for Democratic Change, lashed out at President George Weah for allegedly denigrating his political party on the loss of the November 14, 2023 rerun election between Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) and the Unity Party, and felt it was late for such an outburst, but equally better, bringing in the phrase ‘Better Late than Never.’
The phrase, which is widely used, especially by broadcast journalists and persons expressing pleasantry after the main occasion, denotes that doing something late is better than not doing it at all.
Like many interesting phrases, the origin of the idiom ‘better late than never’ is classic literature attributed to Geoffrey Chaucer. It was first seen in 1386 in The Yeoman’s Tale, which in turn is found in The Canterbury Tales: “For better than never is late; never to succeed would be too long a period.”
I honestly believe that Dr. Tenny’s assertions about President Weah and his style of governance is “Better late than never.”
Before Monday’s upsurge on Spoon Radio, he had already broadcasted a video in which he docketed several charges against the President and threatened that the CDC will expel Weah to save the image of the institution.
In a video recording that went viral on social media, and in what appears to be an “In Your Face” mood, Dr. Tenny claimed that President Weah’s charges against the party’s performance in the recent elections was baseless, noting, “I don’t blame you, I blame the likes of myself who campaigned for you in 2017.”
“Let me tell this Wean man something. We have lost this election to a Statesman. We can only hope that President Boakai will not repeat the tragic mistake that we all made,” he noted. He claimed that he did not participate in the 2023 election due to his lack of confidence in President Weah.
“This is why I never participated in the 2023 election because I never had confidence in Weah. Let me state this for the record. Weah used all of us in 2017 for one major purpose, to replenish his lost assets. Weah’s only desire was to amass wealth for himself, his family, and few cronies of his,” he said.
In his Liberian lexis, Dr. Tenny said, “We have lost this election and you left the party members in pawn. You left the Congress for Democratic Change and its coalition member-the NPP in pawn. You don’t think we know what you did? You are the worst President Liberia ever had.”
He claimed that Weah’s concession was in the best interest of the country, saying, “technically, you did the right thing for the country. To leave the stage. Honestly, in my opinion, you are the worst President Liberia ever had.
But what disappoints me and most people is that with the mountain of information as to the alleged incompetence and dishonest character in the president, the likes of Lester still brought him on the Liberian people as their leader.
While I bear witness that Dr. Tenny is one of the critical voices from under the sycamore tree, his open challenge to President Weah and his “cronies” is late, but it is better.
A critic of President said, “President William R. Tolbert’s took his people “From Mats to Mattresses-total involvement” while President Weah took his people from mattresses to mat.”
I am convinced that if the Liberian have had such information about Weah’s greed, self-centered attitude, incompetence, lack of integrity, and playboy behavior ahead of time, they would have adjusted themselves a long time ago on how to engage Weah, his in-laws, and his cronies; because all we got from Weah and the CDC was false hope, vain promises, lies, misinformation, as well as open denial to the truth.
But while I tend to appreciate Dr. Tenny, whom I have always admired for his stance against his former boss, I believe that though the information is not timely, “It is better late than never.”
*The thought of the son of a professional Kru woman.
