Remember that we are just in the first month of a 19-month long political process that took the country by storm and arguably still is.
I will get back to the detailed narrative of that historic, revolutionary journey we took between May 2004 and November 2005. But it is important to give some valuable ‘asides’ that put the revolution in context.
It has been my considered opinion that if certain members of the political elite, led by Cllr. Izetta Wesley, had not made every effort to prevent George Weah from contesting the presidency of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) in 2004, we might not have been able to get his attention and subsequently his acceptance of our petition for him to contest the 2005 elections. Snd who knows what would have happened thereafter?
The records show that in April 2004 Amb. Weah had declared to the world and the Liberian people that he was interested in contesting the presidency of the LFA. This is a man with a lot of passion for the game; a man who had contributed a lot to football in this country; and a man who wanted to serve the young people of the country in the area of football. This is what Amb. Weah knew best and loved the most.
But no! As usual, the political elites found every trick in and outside the book to disqualify Weah. And so on Friday, September 17, 2004, George Weah ended his bid for the LFA presidency. This actually made George Yuoh to pen an article on September 18, 2004 on The Perspective forcing him to ask “What’s Wrong With Us?” (http://www.theperspective.org/2004/sept/georgeweah.html)
As soon as Weah gave up his LFA’s bid, Secretary General Jeror Cole Bangalu, on September 20, 2004 read the petition for Amb. Weah to contest the presidency on the platform of the Liberia National Congress (LNC). This petition was carried on BBC Sports. At that time, Ledgerhood Rennie (yes Ledgerhood) was the BBC Sports Anchor in Liberia and was the one who reported the story.
So, like I said, in my opinion, if Weah had been allowed to contest the LFA’s presidency, maybe he would not have had interest to run in 2005 and who knows…?
But the political elites made a political blunder of historic proportion and this blunder played well into what we planning.
I will come back to talk about the events leading to the petition of Weah by a group in Liberia which, by coincidence (or was it?), had the same name as our group in the US and was thinking the same way as we were: to approach Weah and talk about his political future.
… this was an aside but I still digging into the files
James F. Kollie, Jr. 