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With placards inscribed “We tiyah [are tired of] suffering,” hundreds of protesters from the country’s opposition chanted demonstration songs as they marched to the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Monrovia.

Weah’s long stay out of his country which has earned him the moniker “the absent president,” is a far cry from his promise to save the country from economic turmoil through job creation, and fighting corruption when he took power in 2018. In June 2019, thousands of Liberians took to the streets of Monrovia, to protest rising food prices and corruption.

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Liberia’s economy is struggling

The World Bank estimates that 34.6% (pdf) of Liberia’s population lives below the international extreme poverty line ($1.90 to $2.15 per person per day) compared to 27.6% in 2016. Corruption perceptions watchdog Transparency International ranks Liberia 136th out of 180 countries.

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“Weah has not performed to the expectation of the majority of the poor people that elected him, he has significantly let the people down,” Ibrahim Nyei, an analyst at the Monrovia-based Ducor Institute for Social and Economic Research told the Financial Times.

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Experts have criticized Liberia for its overdependence on foreign aid to develop most of its sectors as it has given the country a false sense of economic growth. Liberia remains one of Africa’s poorest nations.

With a presidential election coming up in October 2023, Weah’s lack of a transformation agenda and political inclusion has led to a loss of public trust in his government, and his re-election is on the line.

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