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Rejoinder - a Drafted Policy Is Not an Achievement - - Weah Owes Liberia an Apology
The FrontPageAfrica article headlined "Investigation Reveals Weah Administration Drafted National Sports Policy Amid Criticism" attempts to elevate a shelved, unadopted document into a legacy-defining milestone. But let's call it what it is: a political smokescreen for a regime that failed to deliver on its greatest promise.
Yes, the Weah administration drafted a National Sports Development Policy, funded through UNESCO and produced by an independent consultant. But what use is a document that was never adopted, never implemented and never budgeted for?
In the real world, outcomes -- not intentions -- define leadership. In this regard, the Weah regime underperformed, underdelivered and underwhelmed.
While the article attempts to paint the draft as a "key framework," the reality is this: frameworks that sit idle on office shelves do not change lives. They do not build sports academies, train coaches, fund leagues or elevate athletes to the global stage. At best, they are a first step. And Liberia deserved much more than a first step during a six-year presidency that should have led sports development from the front.
George Weah's presidency was perhaps the most anticipated chapter in Liberia's sporting history. As Africa's only Ballon d'Or winner and a global football icon, he was expected to lead a golden age of sports development. Instead, his administration became synonymous with neglect, inaction and disinterest.
Weah once boasted about how the national team was sent to Brazil under President Samuel K. Doe for pre-tournament camping. Yet under his own administration, the same national team was denied the opportunity to travel to Morocco and Brazil, despite arrangements by the Liberia Football Association, simply because his government refused to underwrite the cost. That was not an oversight -- it was a deliberate message: sports was not a priority, not even for the Chief Patron of Sports himself.
Worse still, the first shock sports federations faced under Weah was a drastic budget cut across nearly every federation, including reduced national funding to the Liberia National Olympic Committee. Expectations of increased support quickly turned into disillusionment as federations became beggars in their own land, struggling to honor international competitions -- not because of lack of talent, but because of lack of government support.
This was not about resources. It was about political will. And the truth is simple: the few "investments" his government touted were cosmetic and politically personalized.
Take, for instance, the much-hyped "sports parks," which were never handed over to official sports authorities. To this day, they remain controlled by political loyalists, with revenues pocketed privately instead of reinvested in the sector.
Meanwhile, the Sports Commission on Broad Street -- once the heartbeat of Liberian basketball -- remained in ruins despite public appeals.
Other disciplines including boxing, volleyball, athletics, wrestling and table tennis were left in bewilderment, starved of even basic financial support.
This is not a sports legacy. It is neglect dressed up as achievement.
During the same period, Liberia's ECOWAS neighbors made meaningful progress in sports development. Liberia, however, waited in vain for the political will from Weah to kick-start a serious program.
It is an open secret that Liberia's sports efforts lacked urgency because there was no national rallying call for investment. Weah had the platform, the connections, the credibility and the influence to rally a nation around sports. But he chose indifference over leadership.
This level of deception raises doubts about whether his allies were ever sincere in linking any of Weah's projects to sports. While we witnessed several quick-fix "Weah Projects," the very sector that produced the president was never deemed worthy to benefit from even one.
Former LFA President Musa Hassan Bility once said: "If football doesn't improve under a George Weah regime, then I'm afraid football will not improve anytime soon."
Those words, once hopeful, have now become an unfortunate prophecy.
Weah and his loyalists had the chance to cement him as the greatest sports president in Africa -- not just in name, but in action. Instead, he leaves behind a record of missed opportunities, budget cuts, administrative silence and symbolic tokenism.
Let's be clear: drafting a sports policy is not an achievement. It is a responsibility, a tool, a beginning. The Weah administration never moved beyond the draft. And no amount of public relations will erase the fact that Liberian sports suffered deeply under his watch.
History is not shaped by paperwork. It is shaped by outcomes. And the outcome here is failure.
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Tagged: Liberia, Sport, Press and Media, West Africa
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