George Solo’s Toxic Outburst Against President George Manneh Weah: An Expression Of Anger And Frustration From The People Of Grand Gedeh County.

Recently, George Solo, the disgraced former chairman of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) bitterly blasted President George Manneh Weah in a strong worded statement posted on his (Solo) Facebook page. Despite the past rift between the two, most ardent followers of Liberian politics didn’t see such sadistic vitriol from Solo coming. Many Liberians began to wonder what may have prompted such toxic venom of disagreement from a one-time fanatical supporter of President George Manneh Weah. George Solo blusters: “Why is everyone calling me to leave the wicked demon? Don’t bother to call me in relation to highlighting idiot Weah wickedness and foolery. If he wants war, war he will get! It is quite shameful for anyone who supported this dumb ass in any way to sit and look at him destroy the very country we pledge to fix.”

He continues with his vitriolic tirade against the Liberian Leader: “Who is Weah? An orphan groomed with hate against any logical or opposing opinion? Dedicated to pleasing his sex toys above the interest of Liberia? Committed to empowering crooks above the survival of our people? I am in a democratic space and will use all medium available to crack that unconscious hate and revenge that continues to guide his self-imposed authoritarian kingdom. He is the dumbest president in our history and equally the most vindictive but we have men in Liberia and we will fight this evil in all ways, shapes and forms…. More words and actions to come soon!”

For us who follow the political drama that is unfolding in Liberia, the venom-prone attack on President Weah by Solo is not a mere frustration from just an individual. This statement represents the expressed disappointment of the collective of people of Grand Gedeh County – a people who near unanimously stood by President George Manneh Weah since he launched his presidential ambition in 2004. Grand Gedeans saw him as a true son of the county who would have brought back the days of Samuel K. Doe when the Krahn people dominated the political landscape of Liberia. It was against this backdrop the people of Grand Gedeh overwhelmingly supported President Weah in three consecutive elections. They massively voted for him twice as a presidential candidate and once as a vice presidential candidate. George Solo is just reechoing the frustration of the people of Grand Gedeh County. They feel betrayed by President Weah.

George Solo, a Krahn from Grand Gedeh, is the little Brother of Peter Solo, an ex-fighter of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) that initiated an armed uprising against Charles Taylor in the early 21^st Century. It is important to emphasize that the MODEL’s invasion of Liberia was far from being a revolution for the social transformation of Liberia, but was rather more of an orchestrated ethnic jacquerie against Charles Taylor who the Grand Gedeans see as the chief architect of the insurrection that led to the elimination of former President Samuel K. Doe.

It was based on this strong connection the people of Grand Gedeh had with President Weah that he reciprocated such gesture by making George Solo Spokesman and Deputy Campaign Manager of Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change in 2011. Another factor for the rise of Solo in the CDC was he has swayed over many ex-fighters of MODEL who could have been decisively useful were the Sirleaf-led regime to attempt using lethal force against the CDC especially during the 2011 Presidential Election.

This information was revealed to the Government of Liberia when Eugene Nagbe (Former Secretary General of CDC) crossover to the Unity Party and thus allegedly disclosed to state’s security that the CDC had planned to overthrow former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf if the first round result of the 2011 Election had gone against the party. It was based on this intelligence provided by Nagbe who had betrayed the CDC that the government of Liberia and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) were able to have quarantined militants of the CDC in their headquarters during the November 7, 2017 fracas. According to sources, the militants of the CDC, predominantly consisting of ex-fighters of MODEL, were ready to unleash savage violence to overthrow the Sirleaf-led government.

After the Election in 2011, George Solo was elected Chairman of the CDC. He remained the Chairman until 2014 when we was ousted for allegedly going into a deal with Robert Sirleaf (reprobate son of President Sirleaf) with the aim of influencing the CDC from participation in the 2014 Special Senatorial Election of Montserrado County. The radical wing of the party saw through the scheme of George Solo and ousted him from the party and Ablah Willaims was inducted as Acting Chairman until the next party’s congress. Fast forward, even with the humiliation that one of their sons faced at the hands of George Weah, Grand Gedeans massively voted in their hundreds for President Weah in the 1^st and 2^nd round of the 2017 Presidential Election. They were convinced that the scuffle George Solo had with Weah and the CDC was a non-antagonistic one that could not have any bearing on their anticipation of George Weah being the reincarnated Samuel K. Doe.

Six months into his presidency, George Weah has slapped reality in the face of the people of Grand Gedeh County. The man who they thought would have reawakened the dream of Samuel K. Doe has forged an alliance with the NPFL/NPP clique, which is an arch-enemy of the Grand Gedeans. In addition, their expectation that the days of Doe would have been resurrected has been trashed into the ash heap as Weah now mimics Charles Ghankay Taylor - the convicted war criminal who did not only purge Grand Gedeans during the civil war but also produce the chap (Prince Y. Johnson) who butchered Samuel K. Doe on September 9, 1990.

Emmanuel Shaw, a career crook who betrayed Doe in 1989 and joined Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) is now the senior economic adviser to President Weah and is the chief architect of all the shady loan deals. General Charles Bright, a commando of Charles Taylor’s NPFL who was involved in active combat against Samuel Doe’s forces is now the de-facto Prime Minister of Weah’s government. President Weah gave him the status of a cabinet minister with a carte blanche to not only play supervisory roles in every government Ministry and Agency but is also an ex-officio on the boards of all state-owned enterprises.

Furthermore, as if those were not enough, President Weah took it to another height by elevating people like Koukou Dennis, a henchman of the NPFL in the rank and file of the office of the President. Ex-fighters of Charles Taylor are being recruited in the Executive Protection Service (EPS), Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA), Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and etc. Members of Taylor’s militia are also seen providing security for Mulbah Morlu, Chairman of the CDC; Jefferson Koijee, Mayor of Monrovia and Chairman of the CDC-Youth League and other top officials of the Weah’s government.

In the midst of it all, beside Samuel Wulu (Minister of Transport), not a single son or daughter of Grand Gedeh County has been appointed to senior government position. Not a single individual from Grand Gedeh County is playing an advisory role in the Weah’s government. Grand Gedeans like Obed Tuwor alias Obed Nation who had contemplated being Minister for National Defense has been left in the cold. These and other actions and inactions from President Weah towards Grand Gedeh are signs of betrayal.

Thus, these are subjective conditions that led to the incendiary post from George Solo. The comments are not the view of an individual Grand Gedean. It is a sample size that represents the whole of Grand Gedeh. For us, we are emerging revolutionaries. We do not tolerate sectarian politics. We do not condone the politics of tribe, religion and etc. But in such a rotten ruling class, contradictions such as the state of frustration of Grand Gedeans as the result of betrayal from President Weah are necessary to fast forward the imminent and inevitable wreckage of such human garbage presenting itself as a national government in Liberia.

Moses Uneh Yahmia is a student of the University of Liberia. He studies Political Science and Economics. He is also a staunch member of the Movement for Social Democratic Alternative (MOSODA). He can be reached via [email protected] .