We decided to raise the flag as soon as possible to remind our brothers and sisters in the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) that sports, mainly football or soccer, is a unifier and not a divider.
It brings together nations and peoples of different races, religions, tribes and even in most cases, also reunites bitter rivals because of its entertaining nature. In other words, it removes barriers, does not erect them.
This is why it is incumbent upon all of us Liberians and all peoples everywhere to use the 2022 World Cup to promote unity, peace and stability across the world, particularly Africa, most especially Liberia.
We are making particular reference to some comments that surfaced on the social media, specifically Facebook, following Tim Weah’s goal he scored for the United States of America in the ongoing FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
One of the posts reads: “Hate-position, why haven’t you congratulated Tim Weah,” suggesting that people in the opposition were unhappy because the son of the President, George Weah, first partisan of ruling CDC, had scored in the World Cup.
We think the author of that social media post was not only myopic but was also insane because no one in his or her right frame of mind would have politicized the young Weah’s World Cup goal as means to instigate division between the ruling CDC and the opposition bloc in Liberia.
While it is obvious that Tim Weah is an American by birth and nationality and is playing for that for his country, his goal and most importantly, his participation in the World Cup, has brought pride to all Liberians, no matter, which political party, tribe and religion that you belong to.
Secondly, while Tim was born in the United States and is an American citizen, he is a biological child of the Frist Lady, Clar D. Weah, and the President of Liberia. So, as far as we are concerned, and perhaps most people across the world are concerned, the young man has his roots in Liberia and cannot be divorced from this West African country. This is exactly what has brought pride to all of us Liberians both home and abroad irrespective of one’s political, tribal and religious affiliation.
This is why we urge you against using the young man’s World Cup goal to instigate hatred and disunity between the two sides of the political divide.
