What Liberian President-elect George Weah must develop

When footballer-turned-politician George Weah is inaugurated on January 22 as Liberia’s Twenty fifth president, he’ll face the cruel task of reviving a resilient yet deeply divided, poorly managed, submit-war country.   

Weah used to be the frontrunner among 19 candidates who ran in the main spherical of elections final October 10. After an electoral litigation battle that dragged on for weeks, he gained the December 26 runoff with 61.5 percent of the vote. Although turnout used to be low – fifty five.eight percent compared with Seventy five.2 percent in October – Weah’s die-onerous followers delivered his most decisive victory.  

However the euphoria would perchance be instant-lived if he repeats the mistakes of his predecessors, alongside side Africa’s first elected girl head of divulge – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

In spite of Liberia’s reputed positive aspects in political and socioeconomic renewal up to now 12 years, when Weah takes over from Sirleaf he’ll be inheriting high ranges of unemployment and domestic debt, a depreciated forex, donor aid fatigue, enhance projections of four percent (sooner than the Ebola epidemic the country recorded a median enhance price of 7.5 percent), corruption with impunity – alongside side a secret tax waiver for logging companies – and declining human model indices. 

Merrymakers and naysayers alike eagerly stay up for Weah’s agenda for the country, given his lack of a concrete platform on the campaign path. Serene thin on small print, on the replacement hand, his acceptance speech delivered on 30 December raised major questions about whether he’ll divulge of us sooner than income correct by his presidency. 

Past malpractices 

Weah’s pledge to make « reworking the lives of all Liberians » his « singular mission » seems to be reliable. His deliver to weed out the « threat of corruption » seems to be generous. But these political platitudes stand in distinction to his more distressing guarantees to « relax constraints to non-public funding » and « provide protection to enterprise profits ». 

Granted, maximising corporate earnings and making improvements to quality of existence develop no longer necessarily comprise to be mutually odd, but in Liberia the conventional has repeatedly trumped the latter.  

Throughout the Sixties Initiating Door Coverage enhance, Euro-American multinationals flocked to Liberia for tidy-scale profits from iron ore and rubber. The country used to be unsuitable for recording double-digit enhance with out model. 

A prolonged armed war from 1989 to 2003 largely financed by trees and diamond extraction prompted the United Countries to ban exports. The Sirleaf administration relied practically exclusively on the mining, forestry, agriculture and petroleum sectors for income generation unless a commodity rate slouch left Liberia in the lurch.

Weah has vowed to capture up from where Sirleaf left off, but tactical shifts are needed in practically every aspect of governance. He must convert his clunky campaign slogan, Change for Hope, into something most critical for the an entire bunch of hundreds of dissatisfied electorate across the country – whether or not they solid a pollfor him or no longer.

What Weah must develop 

Although president-elect Weah can comprise a laundry checklist of priorities to form out – alongside side judicial and electoral reform – he must take care of a handful of tangible desires and work on reaching them in six years. He ought to still proceed as if he is simplest in quest of one length of time in divulge of job, neglect about political niceties and institute reforms esteem the trained striker he once used to be.

First, Weah must guarantee that 25 percent of authorities contracts tear to a hit Liberian-owned enterprises by competitive bidding. Ensuing from the country imports bigger than eighty percent of its meals – alongside side the staple rice – preference comprise to be given to Liberian agribusinesses working at scale.   

Weah must additionally flip his sights on international multinationals by cancelling contracts with unhappy performers and renegotiating agreements that can perhaps perhaps even be violating Liberian nationwide legal methods and global human rights requirements in the oil and gas, oil palm, rubber and iron ore industries. 

The revised agreements ought to still generate improvements in tax assortment, payment-addition, employment, and corporate social accountability responsibilities to affected communities. In this vein, renewing the Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative would re-commit the authorities to auditing contracting and handy resource-allocation processes and enforcing environmental safeguards. 

Weah must produce an industrial deplorable in Liberia by insisting that international companies work alongside side his authorities to keep wood, rubber, palm oil, and steel rod processing vegetation in regional hubs throughout the country. Further income generated from these activities comprise to be invested in motorway reconstruction, electricity growth, water and sanitation companies. 

In expose to clamp down on crude extinguish, Weah must gash recurring expenditure alongside side exorbitant salaries for political appointees, tidy toddle budgets of authorities ministries and agencies, imported autos, gas and affirm to card allotments. This can enable him to pay doctors, nurses, teachers, and cops a living wage.   

All authorities ministries comprise to be audited, and govt branch appointees ought to still reveal sources for public scrutiny. Weah must protect authorities officers responsible by heeding Accepted Auditing Commission, United Countries and civil society experiences that catalogue conditions of corruption. 

For those accused of theft correct by Sirleaf’s two phrases (alongside side his be pleased political ally and historical speaker of the Home of Representatives J Alex Tyler), who continue to gallivant freely in and begin air Liberia, Weah must appoint a definite prosecutor to arraign them in collaboration with the ministry of justice. The sources of officers stumbled on responsible comprise to be frozen unless all funds are remitted to authorities and they comprise to be barred from serving in Weah’s administration.   

This can send a clear message that the president is truly committed to holding Liberians from those that egregiously evade the public trust

Meritocracy over mediocrity

Although Weah gained on a populist tidal wave of anti-intellectualism, he must make education the bedrock of his presidency.  

In doing so, he ought to still confront the previous administration’s controversial privatisation of public colleges by instituting an self sustaining review of the pilot and consulting with Liberian educators across the country in regards to the manner forward.  

To tackle unemployment – in particular among 18 to 35-year-olds who comprise bigger than 50 percent of the population – Weah must rehabilitate vocational coaching centres that now lay in ruins across the country.  

He ought to still eschew mediocrity and undertake meritocracy by rewarding technical skillability. For occasion, in the strategic ministries of finance, commerce, public works, properly being and education, Weah must protect a long way from ineffective political entrepreneurs and as a replace appoint competent managers who comprise a confirmed note chronicle of increasing and enforcing reforms. He must develop the same for semi-self sustaining agencies that generate most critical authorities income, comparable to the maritime, port, social security, petroleum and refinery agencies.  

Besides adopting a radical shift in socioeconomic administration, Weah must additionally wage peace. With the United Countries Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) role to entire its security mandate in March 2018, Weah ought to still capture out astute ministers of defence and justice to make bigger the remit of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) and the Liberia National Police (LNP). This can mean sourcing funding to put together security personnel continually and compensate them adequately to protect a long way from defection. 

Liberia is a lot eradicated from the heady glory of football reputation. But when Weah can bring his work ethic from the self-discipline, and assemble a brave team comprising each and every girls folk and men with surplus intelligence and integrity, he may perhaps also fair properly prevail. 

Anything instant of this may mean the president risks shedding favour instant with those that elected him to rating the excellent neutral of reworking Liberia. 

The views expressed in this article are the creator’s be pleased and develop no longer necessarily replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.