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'George Weah owes Ecobank US$3,887'
Liberia Presidential hopeful and former international football star, George Manneh 'Oppong' Weah, has been accused of owing the local subsidiary of Ecobank US$3,887.
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The amount is a loan the Liberian Senator is claimed to have taken from Ecobank Liberia but has since not been able to repay, prompting the lender to classify him as a delinquent borrower.
Mr Weah, who is contesting the country's 2017 presidential elections on the ticket of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), is one of 4,651 borrowers, who are classified as delinquent borrowers by the country's seven commercial banks.
The GN Bank, which operates in Liberia, was not part of the creditor banks.
Mr Benoni Urey, another Presidential hopeful, is also accused of owing Ecobank Liberia a total of US$1,897 in loan, whose repayment period has elapsed, according to the Liberian Bankers Association (LBA).
The names of the two presidential aspirants and that of the over 4,600 delinquent borrowers were published by the LBA in the Daily Observer, a local newspaper in Liberia on two occasions earlier this month.
The indebtedness of the delinquent borrowers, which ranges from US$1 to US$9,999, was reported to have totaled US$2.6 million and 9.8 million Liberian dollars, according to the publication, which was headed 'Liberian Bankers Association Delinquent Borrowers Listing'.
One US dollar was equivalent to about 90 Liberian dollars as of October 18. Mr Weah is yet to officially respond to the issue but some of the other persons names by the banks have threatened legal actions against the banks over the exposure.
The publication of the names in the newspaper prompted hue and cry in Monrovia over the inability or unwillingness of high profile persons to pay up small monies they had borrowed from the banks.
The banks have also threatened to release more names in the coming days should borrowers with outstanding payments not come up for negotiation.
Local media reported that the 'name and shame' strategy adopted by the LBA, a network of commercial banks in the country, is aimed at inciting the borrowers to pay up monies owed their lenders.
Mr Weah, an adored icon in the West African nation, lost the 2011 elections to incumbent President, Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, after polling 40.6 per cent of total votes cast compared to his contender's 59.4 per cent.
He became a senator in 2014 after successfully beating President Sirleaf's son, Mr Robert Sirleaf, in a 78 per cent win, which underscored his popularity in the country and county in particular.
Mr Weah is now hopeful of succeeding Mrs Sirleaf in next year's elections, which have the current Vice President as a contender.
He played for the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Chelsea in his hay days and was ranked the highest African footballer in FIFA'a list of greatest players of the 20th century.
He was also a football ambassador for the UN at the peak of his illustrious football career.
