Published: July 30, 2026
MONROVIA – Former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf declined Wednesday to answer the charge that she is responsible for putting George Manneh Weah in the presidency, dismissing in a single sentence an accusation that has reopened a public fight over her legacy and drawn serving government officials and Weah’s former aides into it.
Asked by reporters to respond to the singer and activist Miatta Fahnbulleh, who said Sirleaf’s lasting legacy would be that she unleashed Weah on Liberia, the former president answered without engaging the substance.
“Go tell her I na get time for her o,” Sirleaf said.
She spoke after opening the National Conference on Women’s Financial Inclusion at the Ministerial Complex in Congo Town. The remark spread widely on social media and received responses from officials in the Boakai administration and figures associated with the Congress for Democratic Change.
Fahnbulleh made the accusation in an interview with Ghanaian broadcaster and YouTuber Kafui Dey, during which she assessed Sirleaf’s tenure, Weah’s presidency, and Liberia’s recent political history. When asked what would define Sirleaf’s legacy, she responded directly.
“Her lasting legacy will be that she unleashed George Weah on us. That’s the legacy I give to Mrs. Sirleaf,” she said.
Fahnbulleh said Sirleaf effectively anointed Weah as her successor rather than merely tolerating his candidacy.
“At the end of the day, how did he get into the political class? Mrs. Sirleaf, like I said, foisted him on us, literally held up his hand as the successor. We didn’t have the capabilities of printing extra ballots and those little things that happened in African politics,” she said.
The claim revives the controversial politics of the 2017 election, which resulted in Liberia’s first peaceful transfer of power between two elected presidents in over 70 years. Sirleaf declared neutrality during that race, but her tense relationship with then-Vice President Joseph Boakai, the Unity Party candidate defeated by Weah, fueled ongoing claims within her own party that she had worked against him.
Fahnbulleh went further, saying Weah’s football career did not qualify him to govern and that his presidency failed.
He’s a fantastic football player. But the background I come from, we didn’t see football players as national political leaders. They should stick to their professions,” she said.
She compared Weah to the Ghanaian forward Abedi Pelé. “George Weah is an Abedi Pelé. Could you imagine Abedi Pelé for President? He’s not a politician,” she said.
“He was a disaster for the country. Go to Liberia now, they will tell you. He was a disaster,” she said.
Fahnbulleh said her assessment was about performance, not animus. “It’s not damning. It’s just the truth. I even have sympathy for George because I know his limitations,” she said.
She said Weah showed no appetite for the work of governing. “He had absolutely no interest in governance, in governing people. He was just happy to be President, enjoying himself, doing a booga dance, drinking and partying,” she said.
“This man was a football player. How do you expect him to come and read a 530-page budget? They didn’t even bother him with those kinds of issues because he could not deal with it,” she said.
She said she puts the same question to friends elsewhere on the continent. “When I asked my Nigerian friends if they would give their country to Kanu to run, that’s when they stopped and thought,” she said.
In the same interview, she reiterated her stance on former President Charles Taylor. “I hold Charles Taylor responsible for the destruction of three generations of Liberians. I can never say something nice about him,” she said.
Sirleaf did not address any of it. Instead she turned to what she said Liberia needs to succeed economically.
“One is discipline. Discipline must come from the top right down to everybody else, performing the duties that you serve,” she said. “Confidence, we got to do things that are respectable if we want to be respected and that must come from everybody.”
The exchange actionsparked responses across the political spectrum. Mohammed Ali, managing director of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation, mocked Fahnbulleh’s critics on Facebook. “Our CDC men dem say Aunty Miatta is living in her parents house. So who house they expected her to live in? Their houses?” he wrote.
Deputy Information Minister Daniel O. Sando endorsed her remarks. “Aunty Miatta Fahnbulleh spoke well, and we agree with everything she said,” he wrote.
Sekou Kalasco Damaro, a former special aide to Weah, said the criticism reflects a belief that the presidency belongs to an elite. “For them, a slum dweller and football player like George M. Weah is outside the ruling class. He is not qualified and has not attained the status to become President of Liberia,” Damaro wrote. “In their thinking, Weah’s background as a slum dweller and footballer has desecrated and stained the Presidency of Liberia.”
He said the electorate has moved. “Liberians prefer their kind to govern them. They see themselves thru their kind and not the so-called ruling class and educated members,” he wrote.
Keff Hassan, a CDC executive, said Fahnbulleh’s criticism was personal. He alleged that she once sought financial help from Weah and turned against him after he asked to speak with her following an official meeting. Hassan offered no documentation for the account, and Fahnbulleh has not addressed it publicly.
Weah has not responded to Fahnbulleh’s characterization of his presidency. Sirleaf’s office has issued no statement beyond her remarks to reporters Wednesday.
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