By John Ikani
Former football icon and current Liberian President, George Weah has announced that he will be seeking re-election in the nation’s presidential election scheduled for October.
Weah declared his intention to seek re-election in October in his annual State of the Nation address.
The announcement came amid mounting criticism over allegations of Weah being out of touch with citizens and ignoring their struggles with rising prices and food shortages.
Last year, Weah faced criticism for his absence from Liberia for over a month while he attended political gatherings in several countries and watched his son play in the World Cup.
Despite being a key campaign promise, corruption remains rampant in the country and continues to be a challenge.
Weah recently accepted the resignations of three close allies after they were accused of corruption by the United States.
Liberia ranks 136th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2021 corruption perceptions index.
The West African country, founded by former US slaves in 1822 and becoming Africa’s first republic in 1847, is still recovering from back-to-back civil wars that claimed the lives of 250,000 people.
