The Government of Sierra Leone twenty-five (25) years agreement with the Turkish/Russian Summa Group Sierra Leone Limited for the construction of a new terminal for the lading and take of Turkish airline flights has exposed seems to have exposed the shady aspects of the whole deal signed by both parties.
The foreign investment partners Summa Group SL Ltd. who wants everything about the business for themselves, has positioned the country and the Government of Sierra Leone in a mere messy light, especially when Summa Group SL Ltd will be coming in with its people after a year of operation, and render huge joblessness Sierra Leoneans, who have been serving in the aviation industry over the years, as if that was why the mainland Mamama airport project was halted.
President Julius Maada Bio and the Summa Group SL Ltd have brought tears in the eyes of the Lungi, Port Loko, northerners and Sierra Leoneans as a whole, especially when one of his most disrespectful ministers Alpha Kanu has told the world at the unveiling of the terminal that there are two hundred and fifty million people in Port Loko, which is far from the fact. Kanu’s diversions tricks public attentions from the nature of the shady deal involving government and the Summa Group SL Ltd failed him this time around. And he is now a subject of mockery and discussions on social media. The entire investment venture has so far left the Government of Sierra Leone and President Bio with a huge credibility problem, not to talk of where the state stands in all of these.
Yet, the Bio failed administration continues to call the makeshift terminal facilities a new airport with an old runway. A new airport built on the same land where the Freetown International Airport has existed for over decades, under the supervisions of the Transport and Aviation Ministry, the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority and the Sierra Leone Airport Authority, which clearly misplaced false claims and lies by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Aviation that the country never has an airport. Lies!
For the records, Sierra Leone has always owned a very high standard airport facility at this same location your government has erected its terminal it called a new airport. Rex Bonapha said on poorly researched Radio Democracy that the airport facility at Lungi was owned by the British government. That is not true Bonapha, and don’t deceive the public like your bosses up there do. So, whenever you are on the media next time be factual. Lies won’t win you the debate at all.
Already Bio has deceived Sierra Leoneans into accepting the fact that his government built a new airport, which is a truth of his own but for all we know and have seen over the years is that the facility provided by the Summa Group SL Ltd is only a terminal for the landings and take-off of Turkish airlines flights operating in Sierra Leone and not a new airport, as it is being falsely propagated by government media handlers.
Thanks to the Government of Sierra Leone for the facility though the much talked about twenty-five deal cannot accommodate one million passengers simultaneously as wrongly informed by Bonapha. Although Government deserve no commendation for doing their job for which they are paid but not from this angle. It is therefore suggestive of the fact that the whole Summa Group SL Ltd Turkish airline deal should be reviewed by government through the line ministry in the best interest of Sierra Leone, not just for the personal gains of top government officials at State House, their closed allies and their shady investment partners.
Again, tor the terminal to be managed by the Turkish for 25 years will lost its value before it can be handed over to the Government of Sierra Leone is sad. And Rex Bonapha being a public servant being paid by government from taxpayers coffers must tender a public apology to the people of Sierras Leone for deceiving with lies. Otherwise, he – Bonapha has no place in public life. How can ten flights land and take off at the airport at the same time. Government and duty bearers must learn to tell the truth going forward for the respectability of their offices.
So far condition of service for staff remain uncertain and to avoid further cooked narratives government must ensure that the conditions of service of Sierra Leoneans are well protected in line with the country’s local content policy. Bio at the unveiling of the new terminal referred to the former government proposal for a mainland airport as a crook project. With that being his view that what is his? We patiently wait for his answer and the expiring dates of SLPP lies.
