Weah announces 2029 presidential run

Former Liberian President George Weah has announced he will contest the 2029 presidential election, declaring his intention during a keynote address to the diaspora wing of his party in Springfield, Pennsylvania, on July 30.

“I will be a candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Liberia in 2029,” Weah said. He accused the government of President Joseph Boakai of being “compromised by a cartel of drug traffickers.”

Weah’s declaration came amid the most turbulent stretch of Boakai’s presidency, following two record cocaine seizures. On June 8, customs officials at Roberts International Airport intercepted 237.6 kilograms of cocaine valued at more than $19 million, concealed in boxes labelled as bouillon cubes and country cloth. On July 21, investigators discovered nearly four tons of processed cocaine in a house outside Monrovia, worth between $317 million and $371 million, alongside GPS trackers, Starlink terminals, diving suits and firearms.

The seizures exposed vulnerabilities within the security apparatus. On July 24, national police chief Gregory Coleman fired his own intelligence chief, Johnny Bolar Dean, after Dean admitted to accepting $10,000 to provide favourable treatment to two suspects from the raids. President Boakai later ordered the dismissal of at least 11 officials across multiple security agencies.

A September 2025 intelligence report, obtained by the Monrovia outlet FrontPageAfrica, had warned that traffickers had infiltrated the country’s anti-narcotics agency and that Liberia risked becoming a “narco-state” without decisive action. The government has denied receiving the report.

Weah’s Congress for Democratic Change had issued a statement four days before his speech demanding an international probe into the scandal. Specific allegations made in a viral video accusing the president’s family of taking bribes remain unverified.

SOURCE: AllAfrica