Published: September 2, 2026
PAYNESVILLE – Former President George Weah accused the Boakai administration of tampering with justice in the drug case against the woman who served as his vice president, calling the government “bogus” and setting the opposition against the largest narcotics prosecution in the country’s history.
By Gibson Gee and Blamo N. Toe
Weah said he will go to the Monrovia Central Prison on Thursday to see Jewel Howard-Taylor. He spoke to reporters Wednesday at his residence in the Rehab community after returning from Ghana through Roberts International Airport in Margibi County, where he declined to address journalists on arrival.
“I think the rule of law is being tampered with,” Weah said. “The government, they are all bogus and it’s unacceptable.”
Asked what he made of the charges against Howard-Taylor, he said he would continue to monitor the case.
“You can’t, in a true democracy, behave in this way,” Weah said. “It’s wrong. You know, tampering with justice is wrong.”
He did not say which government actions he considers interference with the rule of law or with the justice system.
Howard-Taylor, who was vice president under Weah from 2018 to 2024, was arrested Aug. 19 at Roberts International Airport and charged with drug trafficking, money laundering and other offenses in connection with an investigation into an alleged transnational trafficking network. The charges follow the July 21 seizure of nearly four metric tons of cocaine at Duazon, which the government values at about US$317 million and calls the largest narcotics seizure ever recorded in Liberia. She denies the allegations. A Monrovia City Court magistrate granted her request for a preliminary examination on Aug. 25 and rejected a defense application to keep her hospitalized rather than in custody.
“And I believe that the justice system, there’ll come a time that we have to protect it,” Weah said.
He called on political leaders and the judiciary to work together to uphold the constitution and to strengthen democracy through dialogue and “roundtable discussions.”
Weah, political leader of the Coalition for Democratic Change, also said the Boakai-Koung administration has produced no new ideas and has not delivered on its promises of rescue and development for young people.
“Nothing has changed. The only thing we’ve seen is one head of government leave and another appear,” Weah said. “The CDC is the people’s revolution that provides jobs for our young people, our women, and fosters national development.”
He is the second opposition leader to go to Howard-Taylor’s side since her detention. Alternative National Congress political leader Alexander B. Cummings visited her at the Monrovia Central Prison on Aug. 30 and called for a swift, transparent and non-selective prosecution.
