I WILL BRING TO JUSTICE EVEN MY MOM

"I Will Bring to Justice Even My Mom If She's Involve in this Drug Deal"
President Koroma Vows

Sierra Leone's Transport and Aviation Minister, Kemoh Sesay, Foreign
minister Zainab Bangura and Information Minister Ibrahim Kargbo have all
been commenting on an incident that has overshadowed all government
business in Freetown in the last couple of days with some members of the
local press putting senior government officials on trial, while acting as
prosecution, jury and judge at the same time.

Some have even condemned whole communities like the inhabitants of Port
Loko town (located a few miles from Lungi international airport) to which
some of the people involved had fled. In her comments, Foreign Minister
Zainab Bangura told journalists at a press briefing organized by the
Ministry of Information and Communication on Thursday July 17 that she
felt like "the most important Foreign Minister in the world" four days
after the Sierra Leone Police impoundment a cocaine-loaded plane and
arrested alleged drug traffickers. According to government and airport
authorities, the plane dubbed "cocaine plane" by many people here,
forcefully landed at the Lungi International airport in Sierra Leone on
Sunday 13 July 2008 at 3:05 am Sierra Leone time." The FBI, Scotland Yard,
and you name it, are all here in Sierra Leone because our police have
intercepted a plane load of cocaine that could lead to a major
international drug cartel bust operation for the war on drugs," Bangura
stated.

She explained that the Sierra Leone Police is about to solve a major
international drug trafficking problem that has confused the United
States, Britain and many other powerful nations' drug fighting agencies.

"I am host to all of them because some of their nationals are the
consumers of the cocaine that was most likely intended for
trans-shipment," she boasted.

The minister further explained that people should view the cocaine bust
positively and that "the Sierra Leone Police have done a good job."

She said, as Foreign Minister, she can hold her head up high when she
travels around the world knowing her bags would not be subjected to
humiliating searches by customs officers on suspicion of drug trafficking.

This, she added, is possible because President Ernest Bai Koroma and his
entourage took swift action when they, on returning to the country on
Sunday July 13, were greeted with news of an unauthorized landing at Lungi
airport of a Beech Aircraft 200 believed to be loaded with cocaine; which
authorities in Sierra Leone also believe was intended for "trans-shipment"
for hard currency-earner-consumers in the West. Amid the relentless public
relations efforts by the Minister of Information and Communication, Hon.
IB Kargbo, to "rebrand" this small West African nation's image from the
infamous war-torn and corruption riddled one of the recent past to an open
democratic society and a friendly environment for investors, the cocaine
plane saga in Sierra Leone has caused a whole new round of unease here
among the people that Minister Kargbo has to deal with.

A press releases from the Sierra Leone Airport Authority on Wednesday 16th
July states that the "Controller contacted the General Manager and
comprehensively briefed him on the circumstances surrounding the aircraft.
On his part, the General Manager took immediate steps to brief the
Minister of Transport and Aviation while the controller was still holding
on the line on instruction. While this conversation was going on between
the Minister and the General Manager, the flight was descending on the
airport for the first time and continued to descend lower and lower."
Simply put, the plane forcefully landed even before any clearance from the
Minister for Transport and Aviation, Hon. Kemoh Sesay.

There is a lot of hue and cry here about the cocaine plane incident that
has been further exacerbated by blistering headlines from the local press,
all conjectures, that Transport and Aviation minister Kemoh Sesay has
knowledge of the cocaine trans-shipment. Even more difficult for the
Minister is the fact that his brother, Ahmed Sesay, who is the airport
manager and also the national soccer team manager, is one of those already
in police custody for alleged connection with the cocaine plane.

At a Thursday press conference at the Ministry of Information and
Communication, a confident Kemoh Sesay however categorically stated, "I'm
not my brother's keeper," when journalists questioned him about Ahmed
Sesay,s involvement with the cocaine plane.Kemoh Sesay however stated in
the press briefing that he personally instructed the police and the
airport fire fighters to impound the plane - to "move all their fire
trucks around the cocaine plane in a way that it will not fly away.
"Amidst all of this tension, Minister IB Kargbo is hard at work -
defending against speculations of government involvement with the cocaine
plane and calming down the nerves of the already jittery population over
radio, TV and print media that government will not protect anyone who is
found involved in the trafficking of narcotics in Sierra Leone.

On July 13th, Alhaji I.B Kargbo stated over the radio Unamsil that Sierra
Leone would not be a transit point for narcotic traffickers, asking the
people to calm down - that the incident was a criminal issue that has no
immediate threat of violence - reassuring that the police are in control
and arrests have been made. Last Thursday, both IB Kargbo and Alpha Kanu,
the Presidential and Public Affairs Ministers at a press briefing
insisted, "There will be no sacred cows." IB Kargbo emphasized, "We have
gotten an aircraft, even if we use it to ensure our vegetables from Port
Loko to Freetown fresh.

"The uneasiness' among the population just coming out of an 11-year brutal
rebel war was evident in Alpha Kanu's revelation at the press briefing
when he said "I told the President in Banjul that a plane load of
ammunition has been impounded at Lungi and I don't think we should go just
yet," thinking that it was a coup attempt on the leadership based on the
first information he had received from Sierra Leone. But he said that the
President insisted that they should home regardless of what was happening.

Indeed, there was about three hours' difference between the cocaine
plane's forceful landing and the President's landing at Lungi Airport.
This somehow lends credence to the theory circulating in the streets of
Freetown that the cocaine plane operation went wrong because of the
presence of the presidential security personnel who were awaiting the
President's arrival at the airport.

The President had cut short his stay in Banjul by a day. Many people here
are saying that there was a panicky situation at the airport amongst the
handlers of the cocaine because of the security presence and that some
police officers who were a part of the cocaine handling logistics there
abandoned their weapons and fled. Some people maintain that the light
weapons that were seized by the police may not have been all brought in by
the cocaine plane but rather some were the weapons left behind by those
who fled north to Port Loko.

The cocaine plane intrigue and drama was at it best at Youyi Ministerial
building that houses the Ministry of Information and Communication when
members of the Fourth Estate expressed total unhappiness over police
secrecy in withholding the names of the eleven alleged conspirators
already in police custody as stated by IB Kargbo. One reporter snapped,
"Where is the much talked about open government?", alluding to the
UN-sponsored Open Government Initiative (OGI) programme that had been
launched by the President. But the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of
police at the head of the cocaine investigation said issues pertaining to
national security were the reasons for withholding the names.

Whether the AIG's reason plausibly overweighs the need for access to
information, the explanation he espoused is somewhat convincing according
to Alpha Kanu.

However, there are strong indications that the President is hell bent on
bringing the culprits to book. In the Gambia, according to Alpha Kanu, the
President, upon hearing the news of the cocaine plane vowed: "Even if my
mother is involved in this, she will not be protected."