Sierra Leone is teetering on the edge of another chaos due to the misgovernance of the Maada Bio quasi-junta regime and now militants living abroad and at home are threatening to incite a big uprising in the country if the recommendations of the Tripartite Committee do not go the way of the people.
It was therefore not a surprise that when a massive U.S Air Force jet landed at the Freetown International Airport last week, it caused a huge stir and tongues were wagging that the landing of the behemoth and noisy jet could not be unconnected with the storm hovering in the political horizon.
Those APC fanatics still nursing hopes that the Tripartite Committee will ultimately lead to a transfer of power excitedly remonstrated on social media that the jet had come to Freetown to back up security for the nation in the event that the report of the Tripartite sparked renewed violence in Sierra Leone.
As the mystery of the unexpected landing of the military jet deepened, the U.S Embassy came out swiftly with an explanation : “We are aware of some misinformation about a US Air Force plane that was seen landing at Lungi Airport. A plane landed for routine refueling, and promptly left Sierra Leone. Rumors of the plane landing in Sierra Leone for any other purpose are false.”
The U.S. Embassy assurance however contradicted the explanation given by State House. According to the State House Director of Communications, Myke Berewa, “The military aircraft was spotted at the Lungi International Airport this morning touched down briefly for a technical stop.” The situation became even more confusing when a previous statement by the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority factored in :
“Landing Permit for Non-Schedule Flight (NS) about the flight: A permit to operate non-schedule flight into Sierra Leone is hereby granted Pursuant to Part X of the Civil Aviation Act 2023 to: UNITED STATES EMBASSY (Technical stop fuel only) with effect from 23rd June, 2024 to 25th June, 2024. The operation shall be incompliance with all relevant Civil Aviation Regulation. Please inform the Civil Aviation for any changes made on the status of this permit.”
Many Sierra Leoneans simply did not believe any of the explanations. Sierra Leone is facing intermittent problems of fuel shortage . Why would the plane bypass more stable countries without fuel problems like the Ivory Coast, Senegal , Ghana and Gambia and choose economically bankrupt, politically unstable Sierra Leone , with even the possibility of inadequate jet fuel to land for refueling ?
Whatever the case, regardless of who is right or wrong, the boding speculations clearly outlined that all is not well in Sierra Leone and we call on the international community to take serious note of that fact. Sierra Leone, more than any post-conflict country in the subregion and Central Africa , save DR. Congo, has failed woefully to transition from fragility into agility since President Maada Bio came to power in 2018.
The international community must stop the double-dealing, hypocrisy and double standards in dealing with this Maada Bio dictatorship. They are helping to embolden the human rights abuser and human butcher. Bio is about to get away with bold-faced elections thieving and this is annoying millions of Sierra Leoneans. On top of that, he has threatened to commit more bloodshed and America and other stakeholders are very silent about it. They all seem to be collaborators in Sierra Leone.
It is shame.
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