-“This is not George Weah Speaking!”
By Samuel G. Dweh, Contributing Writer
The direct quote above is a direct comment of a lady who was amongst a group of people watching President George Manneh Weah reading his inaugural speech at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville on January 22, 2018.
The group was watching the event on a television’s screen at a local entertainmeent center, opposite the Lakpazee Community Church in the Lakpazee community, Sinkor, Monrovia. I was in the group.
“You seein’ the man’s mof shakin’ and you sayin’ da na he speakin’?” a male viewer responded in broken English to the lady’s assertion in pidgin English.
“George Weah can’t speak like dis. You na hear him speakin’ plenty times durin’ dey campaign time?” the lady argued.
“So, you want to tell us dey people brought a different person to give dey inaugural speech, instead of George Weah who won dey presidential election?” the guy threw a question to the lady.
“Da George Weah standin’ dere, but da na him speakin’. George Weah can’t speak good English lek dis. I can bet anybody on dis. SDa na Georgwe Weah I know speakin’ lek da,” maintained her obstinacy.
“Yon na see George Weah before today?” another man asked the lady.
“I know George Weah more that you, en I love him more den you,” the lady giggled. “But da na he speakin dere.”
The guy took his attention from the lady to the television. He never comment again.
This lady’s disbelief and argument on the inaugural speech reader (George Manneh Weah) have their root on her knowledge of this football icon’s pronunciation deficiencies prior to the inauguration day.
Putting it bluntly, George Manneh Weah had not shown mastery of standard pronunciations of English words before he mounted Liberia’s presidential podium to read his inaugural speech. That means correct pronunciations of English words by George Manneh Weah—as a Head of State of Liberia—were shocking this lady.
This lady’s shock and doubt are similar to those of majority of other Liberians who had listened to George Weah speaking prior to the presidential inaugural speech.
In my first article on this matter (published in the Daily Observer newspaper, August 17, 2017; and other Liberian papers), prior to the voting for president for Liberia, I sampled Liberians’ long-held arguments (debates) about this issue. In the debates, one group said would-be President George Weah was compelled to speak flawless English (pronunciations), arguing further that the Queen’s Language is an indispensable requirement for the presidential office.
The other group disagreed, saying that what is needed most from Mr. Weah (in power) is ‘work’, not ‘speech’. I leaned much toward the ‘flawless speech’ bloc—after I imagined a (national embarrassment) from my nation’s leader communicating in ‘mutilated English’ at a meeting of African Heads of State or at the gathering of World Leaders. However, I expressed my optimism of Mr. Weah’s soonest overcome of this deficiency—before he became President—and showed him some routes out of the problems: Listen to good English speakers (example: BBC’s correspondents) and be humble to tutelage by concerned persons who come out to held.
My opinion on George Weah’s natural ability to learn to speak Standard English in the shortest time received a backlash from one of my best friends—a writer (poet)—who asserted: “George Weah can never speak standard English in the period you’ve implicitly predicted—before the presidential inauguration.”
Most of the people who read the article—and called to give their views on it—verbally punched me “for being an anti-George Weah,” as one of them described me on my patriotic duty to impart knowledge into senior compatriot. I responded that, I’m not an anti-George Weah.
“In fact, by pointing to Senator Weah’s speech limitations, and expressing my optimism (belief) that he can overcome this pronunciational impediment, I’ve shown that I love Mr. Weah more than those who knew the problem—that could embarrass him and the rest of Liberia—but are afraid or do not want to call his attention to it and proffer solution,” I said to some of my critics.
The issue of ‘battered pronunciations’ is a general Liberian trademark. Over 95% of Liberians—including people teaching phonics in grade schools and those teaching Oral English at universities—have fallen short of speaking flawless English anywhere! Including at a public function for ‘highly educated people’.
George Weah has shamed my good writer-friend (the poet mentioned earlier in this article) and many other ‘Doubting Thomases’ who had always thought he would never overcome pronunciational problems!
He repeated his flawless speech at his State of the Nation Address at the National Legislature of Liberia on the 29th of January. He did it right, again, at the 30th African Union Summit held in Ethiopia.
His wife—Clar Weah—should be given some of the flowers of conquest of the ‘wrong pronunciation devil’ that had defeated her presidential-candidate husband over a long time and entered members of the anti-Wear political bloc (during campaign time) working with (some) media institutions—especially newspapers and radio stations.
She excelled in one of her important matrimonial duties: always persistently and empathetically coaching or advising her Head-of-State-in-waiting-husband to always practice speaking Standard English.
A large number of Liberians have made flawless speech a condition for getting a job in the government or the private sector. Majority of (Liberian) employers measure academic qualification or competence (which has not been exhibited) on the basis of the job seeker’s ‘stainless pronunciations’ during job interview.
On this perception, some top brass in Madam Ellen Sirleaf’s government ‘imported’ some persons from America or Britain. Because they could speak ‘Americanly’ or ‘Britishly’—a description of an intonation the ‘importers’ believed could develop Liberia overnight.
This didn’t work—mostly on the imported person’s lack of knowledge to implement what they bragged about learning from an (American or British) University. And many of these ‘imported’ government officials sucked Liberia’s blood (public monies) to be saved in their home countries, for their generations of relatives, when most of the Liberian population was wallowing in poverty.
Most of those who had read my ‘teaching’ or ‘correctional’ article about the surmountable limitations of Mr. George Manneh Weah—my kinsman of Grand Kru County and my idol in the Football profession—think they love this man more than I do.
The period of my knowledge of and interaction with ‘Oppong’—the first name I knew waw back in 1984 in the Township of West Point, my childhood community, and in Clara Town, Oppong’s childhood community—has placed my love for George M. Weah above these ‘political opportunists’.
The first time I saw the now-Head of State of Liberia was during a football match between his community team, Young Survivor, and West Point’s La Modelle International, on Clara Town’s Football Pitch in 1984.
During that time La Modelle was being coached by Frank “Jerico” Nagbe, a former player of Liberia’s national team—The Lone Star. I remember a tall and lanky guy jogging in a circle of excited kids and youth singing,
“Oppong…Oppong…Oppong…”, coming to the field where I and my and other West Pointers were to support our community’s team (La Modelle International) that had just been promoted to the nation’s First Division League.
During the match, this lanky player’s rounding of my community team’s defense—sending La Modelle’s defenders (we used to call one “Puscat”) set my heart on fire almost at the point of causing cardiovascular arrest (heart attack) During play, my loyalty sometime shifted to my community team’s rival due to the mesmerizing drilling skills of Oppong.
The game ended with 2 for the host and 0 for the visitor, La Modelle. Oppong scored both goals. When the final whistle went out, I joined a group of my community team’s supporters who raced to have a closer view of “Oppong” or the “wizard dribbler”, as George Manneh Weah was fondly called, and to feel his body. From this day, George Weah became my idol in the world of football.
Young Survivor’s overpower of La Modelle was repeated during the return match in West Point weeks later, with the only goal coming from a header from Oppong.
I took my ‘idolatry’ of ‘Oppong’ to Ghana’s refugee camp in 1990. That love caused my sleeping under the stadium wing of the Accra Sports Stadium just to have a view of Manneh in the Lone Star’s line-up thronging to the stadium to lock horn with Ghana’s senior football team, Black Star in 2001.
My yelling (from excitement on the dribbling skills of Oppong and the performance of the Lone Star under the captaincy of George Weah) almost cut my breath.
The scoreboard, at the end of the march, read: “Ghana: 1 Liberia: 3”. My photo of the match (of me in my ‘Lone Star Cheer Club’ T-Shirt and saluting the Flag of Liberia) is still with me at the time (Wednesday, February 21, 2018) I was writing this article. You can view this ‘patriotism photo’ on my social media (Facebook), too, via ‘Samuel G. Dweh’.
Most of those who had shouted, “Muyan!…muyan!” or “ooooooooooosay!”, for the Coalition for Democratic Change’s presidential candidate in the 2017’s election campaign think those who weren’t shouting were not for or didn’t love George Weah.
I think they are too narrow-minded to understand that most of those registered to vote kept mute on Weah but voted for him in secret. Presidential candidate George Manneh Weah preferred the ‘muteness’ and the ‘unannounced offer’ of votes—not the noise, “Muyan…Muyan…!” or the “Oooooooooosday!”.
I was with Manneh on the former: muteness and unannounced offer. Who else (out of the two presidential candidates—Ambassador George M. Weah and Vice President Joseph Nyumah Boakai) would I have given my vote to other than my fellow Grand Kruan—George Manneh Weah? My disclosure—I voted for Weah—is not intended to be favored for a job in Weah’s government (even though I would accept his offer). I don’t have to work in the Weah’s administration to contribute—via my writing skills—to building our country. Being a prolific writer and published author—in Literature and Journalism—I can survive outside of any national ruling political class!
The die-hard politically anti-Wear bloc is raising another argument: George Manneh Weah can speak flawless English only on a sheet.
“Bring him before a crowd like the one at the Samuel K. Doe Sports Stadium on inauguration day and tell him to speak without a script, you will hear him go back into lacerated pronunciations mode,” a guy in an anti-Wear political camp said during a debate following the football icon’s installation as Head of State of Liberia. Can George Manneh Weah ‘shock’ this male skeptic—on an unscripted speech—like he did to the lady watching the inaugural speech in Lakpazee?
Do you need to live in Britain before you learn to speak flawless English?
President George Manneh Weah has baffled the entire World by his stainless pronunciations—unlike when he was a footballer, when he was a National Peace Ambasador, and when he was a Senator. With God, NOTHHING is impossible!