Pubdate: Tue, 22 Jul 2008 Source: Standard Times Press (Sierra Leone) Copyright: 2008 Standard Times Press Contact: http://standardtimespress.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4836 Author: Karamoh Kabba Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) 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."