“Our economy is broken; our government is broke. Our currency is in free fall; inflation is rising,” Weah said.

He is however not the first African president to slash his emoluments.

Here are his forbearers:

Muhammadu Buhari

When Mr Buhari took office as Nigeria’s President in 2015, he took a 50% pay cut, which brings his salary to $39,083.52, including allowances.

John Magufuli

President John Magufuli, who is nicknamed “the Bulldozer”  slashed his salary to $4,000 a month to become the lowest earning African president according to Reuters.

Uhuru Kenyatta

In 2014, Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta announced a 20% pay cut to his salary in an attempt to cut the rising public wage bill. He cut his minister’s salaries by 10% and urged all MPs to take a pay cut as well.

He now receives a $14,000-a-month basic salary ($168,000 annually), now $11,000 effective the pay cut.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged to give up 50% of his salary.

He said, “There must be real sacrifices from every Egyptian man and woman. I take the maximum salary of 42,000 Egyptian pounds ($5,200 a month, or $62,000 annually at current rates) and no one will take more than the maximum. I am going to do two things: I am not going to take half of this sum and my property, even what I inherited from my father, I will give up half for the sake of our country.”

Joyce Banda

Joyce Banda also declared a 30% pay cut in 2012 when he was elected president of Malawi. Her salary at the time was about $60,000 a year, a figure she said was already “very low”.

He was succeeded, Peter Mutharika, reverted to a normal pay last year.