Robert Sirleaf, George Weah to Face-off In Montserrado Senatorial Race

While some of Robert Sirleaf’s supporters say, a win could weaken George Weah politically, a loss would also serve as a litmus test for his mother’s reign as president.With the ruling Unity Party set on Ali Syllah as its candidate in the Montserrado County Senatorial Race, it is all but concluded that Robert Alvin Sirleaf, should he decide to accept a petition filed Monday by his supporters to contest as an independent candidate for the Montserrado's Senatorial seat.

But political pundits believe that a defeat for either Sirleaf or Weah would means a major blow in the politicalcareer of the defeated candidate especially for Ambassador Weah who is desperate for the Liberian presidency.

As Robert Sirleaf ponders the petition of his supporters in the backdrop of an emerging debate about his U.S. citizenship murmurs, he has so far not addressed, it remains to be seen how voters would respond, even amid new revelations that his main rival, Weah, is also entangled in citizenship issues of his own.

It is a debate many anticipate would draw a defining line in the race for Montserrado County. Sally Hodgson, Public Affairs Officer, at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia when contacted for verification Monday, said “As a matter of law and policy, we do not comment on citizenship or residency status of individuals.”

That Robert is running against the norms of the party which gave his mother state power, speaks volumes about the complexities of a man his supporters say could defy convention within his mother’s political ranks en route to what many anticipate would be a high-stakes senatorial bid, pitting him against one of the greatest footballers ever to play the game in George Manneh Weah.

The irony of Monday’s petition was as complicated as the race is poised to become. Petitioners aptly chose the Slip Way field where Weah began his craft that prepared him to conquer the world, a field, until Sirleaf’s intervention, was dubbed a pool of dreams, due to the heavy flooding which engulfed the area and kept many youngsters from following the footsteps of their idol, Weah.

It is the backdrop of many of Sirleaf’s interventions in communities like this one that his supporters say, gives him the guts and even the dare to challenge Weah, in his own backyard.

His supporters point to his aggressive engagement in Weah’s stronghold of New Kru Town, West Point and Clara Town where he was instrumental in mini-football stadium on the turf where Weah learned his craft. Sirleaf’s supporters see his many charitable ventures in areas considered CDC strongholds as a key asset likely to give him an edge and that much clear in their petition Monday.

“We have realized with great disappointment and shocking political disdain over the period about the high level of legislative abandonment meted against our people in this county and we have suffered for nine years from the hands of leaders we elected over the period,” lamented Lassana Fofana on behalf of the petitioners. Sirleaf’s petitioners described him as a man who has over the years concerned himself with developmental activities in and around the country especially in providing incentives for economic empowerment.

But even on a day, his supporters hoped he would accept, Sirleaf chose the route of suspense, telling his supporters Monday: “I have to think, I will be very honest with you all, I do not know the characterization in this folder; I will look into all your eyes, I want to see your hope, I want to see your dreams, I want to see your aspirations.”

Sirleaf went on to say that he would take his petitioners' plea to divine intervention before making formally what many have been skeptical for months that he is indeed looking to challenge Weah and the rest of the field that includes Liberty Party’s Benjamin Sanvee and his former peer Dr. Christopher Neyor.

“I want to thank you all for giving me this folder. I hold this folder to my heart and I will take it to God tonight and I will wake up tomorrow morning and I will ask God… if what’s in this folder represents the dreams of the people of Montserrado County and then God will send me a message that in this folder, if I would make a decision, I would do so.”

But even if Sirleaf accepts, his quest for the Senate is expected to be a bumpy one, filled with criticisms of his mother’s reign marred by corruption, charges of nepotism and a lack of political will to tackle graft, his fallout with Neyor, with whom he worked at the National Oil Company of Liberia and the impact his independence from a party political backing could have on his candidacy.

The perception in some political circle has been that although Sirleaf may run as an independent, the ruling party deliberately puts up what many say is a weak candidate in Sylla in a bid to give Sirleaf an edge in the October race.

Adding to the likely problems for Sirleaf could be the final decision from Neyor on his quest for the Senate. Neyor, who had earlier announced his decision to drop out of the race, told a group of his supporters upon his return to Monrovia last weekend, that he would reconsider, after hearing appeals not to drop out of the race. With Neyor in, many political observers anticipate a dirty period of campaigning between the pair.

Neyor struck the first blood recently when he accused President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of masterminding a plot to destroy him so that her son, Robert Sirleaf, could have an easy path to the Senate seat for Montserrado County and eventually to the Presidency of Liberia in the 2017 election to succeed his mother.

Wrote Neyor: “Your threat to destroy me comes at a time when there are media reports of your son, Robert frantically trying to buy off all the Montserrado County’s senatorial candidates and promising cash for others to abandon their political parties to support his candidacy for Montserrado. Your threats with Robert’s millions.

Despite these threats, I will remain a formidable candidate for the senate race. I take your statement as a serious threat to my person because in our part of the world when a President with all the power of the State wants to destroy a citizen, the order is usually followed to the letter.”

Robert, in a response, averred: “We will continue to see shallow, factually incorrect, and politically-motivated statements. We feel for those individuals. We believe time, effort, and energy, is better spent actually “doing positive things” for the people, than creating fictional story lines which haven’t any impact on the lives of the average Liberian.”