Insecurity at Lungi’s International Airport (The lads are here)

Just over a week ago, on Christmas Day, a passenger allegedly attempted to ignite a device on board a Delta Airlines flight, just as it began its final approach to Detroit’s international airport. The flight had originated at Amsterdam’s Schiphol, but the passenger in question, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had started his travels in West Africa, from Accra in Ghana, to Lagos and then on to Amsterdam.

This news set bells of recognition clanging in my head, as I recalled our transit through another West African Airport just a few days earlier. Then it was Freetown’s Lungi International Airport, when our passage through security was no different from the many others we have had the misfortune to endure at that airport. It was lamentable. Firstly, to set the scene, there were no electronic scanning devices to monitor check-in baggage so that, as a result, checking had to be done by hand.

In order for a hand search of check-in baggage to be conducted, you have to present your travel documents and stand face-to-face with the security agents, whose body language was more than eloquent in conveying the terms under which the imminent transaction was to take place.  By winks and nudges, the two officials communicated that our bags need not be subjected to a search if we played our part in this sordid drama. There was nothing left to the imagination for a misunderstanding of what exactly we had to do to avoid a legally required safety measure. And, looking at us directly in the eye, they made a show of not opening and examining our bags, adding that we were respectable, mature citizens that should not be subjected to the indignity of a search.  And, as we moved on, the final verbal appeal came: “You borbor den dey naya, oh. Dis na Chrismess,” meaning, “Your lads are here. This is Christmas.”

One can take whatever message from this, ranging from a benign effusion of seasonal goodwill to the malign solicitation for improper conduct. However, the expression, “You borbor den day nay oh ” is a well-recognized code, applicable in all seasons, requesting a bribe or tip for services rendered. In this case, it was obviously the latter, an outrageous attempt to receive money for services purportedly delivered, or more accurately, for a dereliction of duty.

That was our progress through check-in baggage security. Checking of hand luggage was equally unsatisfactory. Electronic metal detectors stood as silent monuments to the absence of a maintenance culture and so manual checking was again, mandatory. Here, as before, the body language spoke volumes. Anticipating that we would understand what was being said, the examination of our hand baggage was token, if that. I had a laptop as well as other minor electronic gadgetry, which remained undisturbed in their sections in my bag. What was done, at least in my case, was a patting down to ensure that I had not secreted any prohibited items on my person. That was good. And to give the devil its due, it seems likely that, if Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had tried to get through, Lungi security, already dressed to kill, he would have been foiled at that point. Anyway, we declined to perform according to script and escaped into the pre-boarding lounge, feeling that we were in the hands of a capricious providence that could decide our fate in whatever way it felt disposed.

I know that there will be howls of protests about these observations with denials coming from all quarters. But if the authorities are ready to take their responsibilities seriously, they will take a close look into Lungi Airport security with the seriousness that this matter deserves. After all, this government is sworn to rooting out corrupt practices that impede progress in our country and that it will deny protection to sacred cows. And it would take only one unfortunate act of negligence to bring us again into the headlines. I can just see them with the old, tired mantras being trotted out again “Sierra Leone, just emerging from a brutal civil war, is a perfect breeding ground for terrorists schooled in the arts of limb hacking, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.” Apart from the appalling loss of life that could result, our national pride cannot withstand any such further injury. As we say in Krio: “Lonta.” “You have been warned.” 

Tell Fren Tru