George Weah certified as Liberia’s new president

By Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh
MONROVIA, Liberia (AA) - Liberia’s Electoral Commission on Thursday officially certified George Weah as the newly-elected president of the country.

In a ceremony held in Liberia’s capital Monrovia, Jewel Howard Taylor, wife of former convicted president Charles Taylor, was also certified as the vice president of Liberia, along with the Members of the House of Representatives.

“The certificate we are presenting to you does not only represent conferrer of legitimacy, to pronounce you to the world as duly elected officials, but also an embodiment of the power, trust and aspirations reposed in you by the people of Liberia,” Jerome Korkoyah, chairman of the Election Commission said at the ceremony.

The ceremony was witnessed by the representatives of the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the European Union, political parties, local and international organizations.

Farid Zarif, the special Representative of the United Nations in Liberia, called on Weah and his team to lead the country in such a way that each Liberian would be proud of it.

“To you Mr. president elect, it doesn’t make any sense that Liberia is so rich, yet its people are so poor. Let’s build a Liberia so that every Liberian will be proud of it,” Farid Zarif said.

For his part, George Weah thanked the Liberians for electing him their next president and said: “I will not fail you. The government fails when the people appointed in the various government departments fail to do their jobs.”