Filed in by Olando Testimony Zeongar – 0776819983/0880-361116/life2short4some@yahoo.com
Monrovia, Liberia – President George Manneh Weah’s latest list of additional appointments in government, has on it Musa Shannon, a former player of the senior national football team the Lone Star, during the days the Liberian leader also played along with star players such as James Salinsa Debbah, Kelvin Sewbe, Dynisious Sewbe, Jonathan Boye Charles Sogbie, et al. During this period, Weah also served in the twin capacities as technical director and captain of the Lone Star, with the team being widely referred to by Liberians as the “Weah-11.”
The Lone Star, under Weah, as captain, technical director and the lead-star-player, blended with the likes of Debbah, Boye Charles, Kelvin and others, put up impressive forms, rubbing shoulders with some great footballing countries in Africa.
During this time the Lone Star made two appearances at the Africa Cup of Nations, in 1996 and 2002, the only two occasions upon which Liberia, Africa’s oldest republic has ever been represented at this event which is the continent’s greatest soccer fiesta. Also under Weah’s leadership, just by the skin of the teeth, the team painfully missed out on qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by Korea and Japan that year.
The Weah-led Lone Star almost made the history of qualifying the country for its first ever World Cup, but the team faltered when it mattered most, as the national team went into the last in a series of games of the group games on matchday seven, while sitting on 12 points, two points ahead of Nigeria.
Lone Star, playing at home, needed to beat the Black Stars of Ghana to boost Liberia’s chance of qualifying for the Korea/Japan 2002 FIFA World Cup, but lost 2-1 while Nigeria whitewashed Sudan 4-0 away.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria later went on to beat Ghana 3-0 in their last group game to wrest from Liberia’s grasp a glorious chance of picking up one of Africa’s tickets for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
‘Political differences’
Back then, during those glorious days, Punch FM/TV online service is told by multiple impeccable sources, Weah and members of the star-studded Lone Star shared cherished camaraderie and had one goal of making the Lone Star to shine in every match and in any competition, until politics placed a wedge between them, when Weah decided to run for the presidency and the likes of Debbah, Boye Charles, the Sewbe brothers, Anthony Papie Sumo, et al thought differently, by not supporting his presidential bid.
Since then, despite campaigning for him in 2014, during Liberia’s special senatorial election, which Weah won and became Senator for Montserrado County for more than three years, there has been a fiery beef existing between the former Lone Star players and Weah, a feud which many sources blame the Liberian president as being the one responsible for prolonging.
Our sources, who are all avid football followers and some former footballers, are blaming the Liberian leader according to them, because the president as the leader should now be the one to take the lead in seeking reconciliation, but the sources intimated that since his ascendency to the presidency, Weah has disappointingly failed to extend a hand of peace and reconciliation to Debbah, Boye Charles, the Sewbe brothers and other former Lone Star players who did not support his presidential quest, yet he has done so for scores of other former footballers who stood by him during his years as opposition political leader of the main opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC).
Since he took power, one source disclosed that President Weah has failed to involved in any national event that warrants their involvement, Debbah and the others who the source says he (Weah) views as his political foes.
Our source recalls that during Liberia’s Independence Day celebration this year, at the behest of President Weah, series of football activities were organized to commemorate the occasion, but again, upon the instruction of the president, organizers of these events conspicuously left out Debbah, Boye Charles, Kelvin Sewbe, Dynasious Sewbe, and Papie Sumo, all former Lone Star players who did not support Weah’s presidential bid.
The source however, added that out of humility and love for country, having been sidelined for such an event which the Executive Mansion announced at the time as being a one intended for national reconciliation, those excluded by the president, including Debbah, Boyes Charles and Kelvin, although not officially invited, turned out for the football events, to the delight of many Liberians that are following the growing feud between the president and the former Lone Star players.
‘Suspicious occurrences’
Another source hinted Punch that since Weah assumed the presidency, some occurrences that the source terms as suspicious have affected some of these former players of the Lone Star.
The source went on to name the abrupt sacking of Kelvin Sewbe from his director post at the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the termination of Debbah’s contract as head coach of Lone Star as few of the incidents the source terms suspicious, implying that these would have not happened without the influence of President Weah.
Reacting to the president’s latest appointments in government, when he named Musa Shannon to the board of the Liberia Airport Authority as member, the source averred that while Debbah, Boye Charles, the Sewbe brothers, Papie Sumo and other former players who the Liberian leader sees as his adversaries are without jobs and are languishing in hardship, Weah continues to appoint other former players to lucratic posts.
While acknowledging that it is the sole prerogative of the president to appoint whoever he wishes to appoint in government, he said at least, in the spirit of peace, reconciliation and the respect for the tenets of democracy, that gives each one the right to vote as they wish and believe, Weah should have by now thrown out an olive branch to Debbah et al, by letting bygones be bygones and include them in his administration.
