Football legend George Weah's inauguration ceremony has marked the country's first democratic transition of power since 1944. Liberians are placing their hopes on him, but he has a daunting task ahead.
Image: picture-alliance/A.Dulleh
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Thousands of Liberians queued for hours to get into Samuel Kanyon Doe stadium near the capital, Monrovia, where George Weah was sworn into office. Several African heads of state were in attendance.
Referring to his past as an international football star, the 51-year-old newly inaugurated president said: "I have spent many years of my life in stadiums, but today is a feeling like no other." He went on to reiterate that his first priorities as president would be to root out corruption and pay civil servants "a living wage," as well as encourage the private sector.
George Weah: From football star to Liberian president
His biography could well be turned into a movie someday. The son of a poor Liberian mechanic, he rose to become a top footballer in Europe. Now he has been elected president of Liberia. DW looks at his life in pictures.
Image: Reuters/T. Gouegnon
A rising star in football
Outside Liberia, George Weah is best-known as a football player. In his heyday, he was considered to be one of the best strikers in the world. Football helped Weah escape a life of hardship. The son of a mechanic, he grew up in a slum in the Liberian capital. The family sank deeper into poverty after his father's early death. Fortunately, Weah was discovered by a Liberian football team.
Image: picture-alliance/DPPI Media
From Cameroon to France
George Weah was Liberia's top scorer in 1987 and played for Invincible Eleven, the country's leading team at the time. When his club played against the Cameroonian side Tonnerre Yaounde, officials noticed his talents and signed him up to play for their club. But life in Cameroon wasn't easy. Weah had to live with other players and struggled with speaking French, Cameroon's national language.
Image: DW/M. Edwin
Making it big in Europe
After six months in Cameroon, Weah joined French club AS Monaco in 1988. It was the beginning of his successful career in Europe that saw him play for the continent's top leagues and clubs. He was world football player of the year in 1995 and was chosen trice as African footballer of the year. Milan's former coach Arrgo Sacchi once said about him: "With every action he's re-inventing football."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Fumagalli
Failed dreams of a World Cup tournament
But while George Weah made it big as a player in Europe, his dream of playing at a World Cup tournament was never fulfilled. In 2002, Liberia qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Mali. Weah was the team's technical director, but announced his resignation as a player and an official after the team was knocked out in the group stages.
Image: picture-alliance/empics
Fighting poverty and human rights abuse
Weah has used his success to help others who are less fortunate. In 1997, the UN's children fund UNICEF appointed him special representative for sports. Weah has donated large sums to charity. This has made him popular in his war-ravaged home country, where he maintained close contacts over the years.
Image: AP
Family life
George Weah is married to Clar, a US citizen with Jamaican roots. The couple has three children. His oldest son is following in his father's footsteps as a football player. Weah named a Liberian TV station that he owns after his wife. "She always supported me and motivated me to do something for my country," he told German magazine "Stern" in 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/DPPI Media
2005: A surprise bid for the presidency
George Weah had to face a number of setbacks after the end of his football career. He became a politician and took a shot at the presidency at Liberia'a first democratic elections after the end of the civil war in 2005. He came in second place in a runoff after former World Bank Vice President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Johnson-Sirleaf scored 59.4 percent of the vote, Weah got 40.6 percent.
Image: Getty Images/C. Hondros
Working in parliament
After an unsuccessful bid to become vice president in 2011, Weah managed to win a seat in the senate, Liberia's upper house of parliament in 2014. Weah defeated his main rival, President Johnson-Sirleaf's son Robert, by a landslide, winning 78 percent of the vote. But according to media reports, Weah was rarely seen in parliament, nor did he sponsor any legislation.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/Z. Dosso
2017: A second attempt
George Weah has proven to be a political fighter. In 2017 he again ran for the presidency. While his supporters have continued to cheer on their idol, Weah's decision to choose Jewel Taylor as his running mate shocked people both at home and abroad. She is the ex-wife of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was convicted of war crimes in 2012.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/I. Sanogo
The new Liberian president
George Weah won the first round of the elections in October 2017. A necessary runoff was postponed by Liberia's Supreme Court after another candidate complained of fraud. Weah won the runoff on December 26, 2017, with 61.5 percent of the vote. Former Vice President Joseph Bokai scored 38.5 percent of the vote. Bokai was quick to accept defeat and congratulated Weah.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP Photo/A. Dulleh
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Experts are not optimistic
Liberians held prayer services in the 48 hours preceding the ceremony signaling an awareness of the challenges which await their new president. Weah is inheriting from his predecessor, Africa's first female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a weak economy and dilapidated health and education sectors.
George Weah, who won the second round of presidential elections at the end of last year, has no experience in politics. Still, many Liberians are placing their hopes on the new president. One user onDW Africa's Facebook page said that he hopes Weah will appoint his administration on the "base of merit" and abstains from nepotism, something his predecessor was often accused of.
Experts do not seem optimistic about Weah's capacity to tackle corruption and bring technocratic expertise into the cabinet. Malte Liewerscheidt, Senior Africa Analyst at global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, said Weah is already feeling the heat: "He is under pressure from various constituencies and unlikely to nominate a cabinet of experts as he claimed he would do shortly after his electoral success."
Youth unemployment a huge problem
The same Facebook user from Liberia who called on Weah to appoint people based on merit, said he is nevertheless optimistic: "I have confidence in Weah. If Weah doesn't make Liberia the first or second most developed country in Africa then forget leadership in Africa. Because he has all it takes to make Liberia great."
Expectations are thus high for the 25th president of Liberia. Voters will hold him to his promise of jobs and better schools. Especially the former, as another Facebook user pointed out. "An 85 percent unemployment rate is a shame!" another user wrote, adding that it doesn't make sense to go to college, if you can't get a job afterwards.
Liberia is one of the poorest country's in the world. Its economy is very dependent on rubber and iron ore. The slump in commodity prices in 2016 badly affected an economy already shaken by the Ebola crisis that started in 2013 and lasted three years. The economy has since recovered, but not enough to offset the effects of an inflation of 11 percent on the price of staple foods.
Thousands of Weah's supporters attended the swearing-in ceremonyImage: Reuters/T. Gouegnon
Betting on the new president
The battered economy has driven up unemployment especially among young people. About 60 percent of Liberians 4.6 million citizens are under 25. Many of them voted for Weah. His rags-to-riches story appeals to the young people's imaginations. But some social media users poked fun at Weah's political background which started after he retired from professional football: "I will soon abandon farming to learn how to play football. Then: to the presidency."
Social media users on DW Africa's Facebook page were, for the most part, happy with their new president, although some sounded an admonitory note: "Don't betray the trust of common citizens in Liberia. Don't get power drunk," one Liberian stated.
