Editorial: Sierra Leone Deserves Better Than a Government of Shadows and Scandals
Sierra Leone is standing on a dangerous precipice. Once hailed by the United Nations as a beacon of post-conflict reconstruction and peace consolidation, the nation now finds itself under the weight of international scrutiny for its regression.
The latest report from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs issues a chilling warning: Sierra Leone has become a transshipment corridor for cocaine and heroin, linking South America and Asia to Europe and beyond. It highlights a deeply compromised justice system, rampant corruption, and an environment increasingly fertile for organized crime.
This isn’t just a matter of perception. It’s reality. And it’s not merely the fault of structural challenges, it’s the consequence of deliberate choices made by the administration of President Julius Maada Bio.
Sierra Leone’s image, once steadily elevated under the previous APC government through diplomatic reforms, international cooperation, and public sector revitalization, has been carelessly tarnished by an administration more concerned with rebranding slogans than substance, and with shielding criminal networks rather than dismantling them.
The most brazen example of this decay is the now-infamous Liedjeka affair. One of Europe’s most wanted drug lords, Danny Liedjeka, was not only seen operating freely in Sierra Leone but was repeatedly photographed in the company of President Bio. Reason why instead of lying low, the criminal haa reportedly became so emboldened that in openly engages in fisticuffs and violence to the extent he survived two shooting incidents, both on Sierra Leonean soil. And why shoukd anyone be surprised, a man who is rumored to have cultivated intimate ties with members of the First Family must be enjoying some privileges. These allegations, widely reported across European and African press, have yet to be meaningfully addressed by the government. The silence is deafening, and in itself, an indictment.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone’s young people are dying in the streets and decaying in overcrowded wards, ravaged by “kush”, a synthetic drug epidemic spreading like wildfire. Addiction has become a silent war, claiming the country’s next generation while officials parade around with platitudes and staged symposiums.
The government’s response? Largely performative. While drug cartels exploit institutional weaknesses, public officials allegedly launder illicit money, hoarding it in preparation for the 2028 general elections, a political cycle already heating up, with both ruling and opposition parties preparing for fierce primaries. Democracy, once defended with dignity, is now endangered by dirty money.
Then there is the troubling case of conspicuous real estate purchases in The Gambia by the First Lady which have raised justified public outrage. In a nation where women die in childbirth for lack of basic supplies, where youth unemployment soars, and hospitals lack gloves and oxygen, such extravagance is not only immoral, it is unforgivable.
What kind of leadership bankrupts a country morally and economically, yet wraps itself in borrowed legitimacy?
This unconscienable mismanagement is an assault on the integrity of the state, an erosion of public trust, and a betrayal of the blood, sweat, and hope of post-war generations. Sierra Leone has become, not the success story it was on track to be, but a cautionary tale in the making, a potential narco-state cloaked in democratic theatrics.
If ever there was a time for reckoning, it is now.
As the 2028 elections approach, citizens must demand more than empty slogans and token appointments. They must demand accountability. Institutions must be restored. Transparency must return. The international community, too, must look beyond surface-level reforms and engage more critically with what is unfolding.
Sierra Leone is not beyond saving, but it will not be saved by the very hands dragging it into darkness.
The Editors Note:
This piece reflects my judgment drawn upon publicly available sources including the U.S. State Department, United Nations Peacebuilding Commission, Africa Confidential, De Standaard (Belgium), and other investigative media.