But How Deep Was The Feud?
PHOTO: The pair (Weah-Debbah) that made Liberians very proud on the football pitch both at home and abroad
By Frank Sainworla, Jr., fsainworla@yahoo.com
The longstanding feud between two of Liberia’s football legends—George “Oppong” Manneh Weah, Africa’s first World Footballer of the year and the celebrated James Salinsa Debbah—appears to have been resolved. A recent public declaration of his support of the second term bid of the ruling CDC party candidate and now President of Liberia, George Weah by his first cousin, Salinsa seems to have done the trick.
Sources close to the issue said the feud between the pair had festered in various forms, ranging from family to political.
For nearly three years after his first cousin, President Weah came to power, the two former Lone Star National football teammates had virtually been out of contact, though both men resided in Liberia, Debbah told www.newspublictrust.com during the weekend of July 27, 2020.
During the previous 2017 presidential election that Weah and his CDC won, Salinsa did not support his candidacy.
Mr. Debbah said both he and Weah supported the Liberty Party, when the late Cllr. Brumskine first announced his bid for the presidency, but Mr. Weah left as he had his own ambition. James Salinsa Debbah Reveals He And Weah Were Originally Liberty Party Members – News Public Trust
However, three years on, Debbah has converted to becoming a Weah political supporter, as he announced on Tuesday, August 15, 2023 in the Paynesville suburb of Monrovia, when he declared his support for President Weah’s October 10 second-term bid through the party of Weah’s Foreign Minister, Dee Maxwell Kemayah—the Movement for Economic Empowerment (MOVEE).
“This election is paramount to the future of the country, everyone must take a side, no more standing on the fence,” Salinsa, who is former national coach of the Lone Star football team said as the pro-Weah party mobilized citizens to intensify the ongoing campaigning.
Reversing the position he held back in 2020, when he said to www.newspublictrust.com, “I have always declared my support to Liberty Party. What a lot of people don’t comprehend is that from the very inception, George Weah and I started with Liberty Party;” Debbah said recently: “The best person at this time, his party, the Liberty Party that he has for long affiliated with is factionalized and there was no way he could offend any of the leaders of the two sides “because I am close to them.”
Back in 2020, Salinsa told this news outlet that both he and Weah supported the Liberty Party, when the late Cllr. Brumskine first announced his bid for the presidency, but Mr. Weah left as he had his own ambition.
Later in May 2022, Debbah reportedly said that President Weah had openly apologized to him in a Facebook post quoted by FrontpageAfrica newspaper.
He wrote: “Be that as it may of all the ruckus during and after the general elections that saw his excellency GMW ascend to the helm of political expediency, we have buried the hatchet and made amends. The President has openly apologized to me! It means a lot to me. I am optimistic that his apology is sincere and I have embraced him with open arms. Our Lord Jesus Christ said we should forgive 70×7 times. Who am I not to adhere to such a doctrine? I am nothing but a MERE MORTAL! We are now anticipating a more cordial working relationship in the future.”
Apparently giving the rationale why he has this 2023 election year decided to support President Weah’s presidency and not join his ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), Debbah explained recently that it is like a cloth between the scissors regarding his old Liberty Party grounding.
“I cannot oppose Mr. Musa Hassan Bility, because he was the one who gave me my first break by appointing me as the national team coach and sent me to England for advanced coaching. I cannot equally go against Senator Nyonblee Karngar Lawrence because we have a history of being friends,” Debbah explained on August 16, 2023.
With the official campaigning period remaining several weeks to close, many political watchers and fans of the two former international football icons are eagerly waiting to see President Weah and his first cousin, Debbah up in arms on the campaign trail somewhere in the country.
Many think this latest show of the dissolution of the bad blood will be seen in concrete terms before the ongoing campaign ends when both men are seen up in arms on one of the campaign trails in the remaining weeks to the October 10 polls, confirming the old adage that they are genuinely on the path to “bury the hatchet”.
It can be recalled that one of the world’s greatest political icons, the late former South African President Nelson Mendel, who spent 27 unbroken years in the white resist Apartheid prison, said “Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.”