Liberia: Rodney Sieh’s New Book Brings Us Closer to Understanding the Man George Weah
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Loading... - Abam Danso
- 15 Mar 2023
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Very few books nowadays keep my attention to every sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter. Rodney Dean Sieh’s unofficial biography of Africa’s football star-turned President is an exception. Rodney is an award-winning journalist, editor and publisher of Liberia’s largest independent print and online daily, FrontPage Africa.
Like the man he writes about in George Weah: The Story of Africa’s Footballer President, Rodney has an impressive story (except not on the soccer pitch but in the journalistic arena). He rose from humble beginnings in Liberia to becoming a correspondent for the BBC. As part of his post-war contribution to his country, he founded and managed FrontPage Africa (first online, & then print), which is now widely known for its ground-breaking publication on political corruption in Liberia. It has not been all rosy for Rodney: he was jailed twice for publishing dissenting articles about the Supreme Court and a government minister, the latter led to his astounding 5,000-year prison sentence (but domestic & international pressure led to his release in November 2013, having served four out of 60,000 months!).
The book “is one of the best accomplishments of my life,” writes Rodney in the acknowledgments. The author should correctly be proud of this work, as the book is aesthetically pleasing, well-written, and reveals the destiny man who would go on to conquer the world of professional soccer and, against all odds but with perseverance, rise to the presidency of his native country. Over the long sweep of human history, such persons as Monsieur George are few, just few in numbers! They are the outliers and, for better or worse, they will live on in history. Read More…
