Liberia, according to one pundit, is in a graveyard. That assertion might be true. Liberia is a founding member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Years of war in Liberia reduced the country’s image to a nightmare. Civil Aviation under the previous administration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf resuscitated and rebirthed the organization. All seems pretty dead and buried.
Maintaining minimum standards is nowhere near the Liberia CAA. What should be a 24/7 fully functional organization has become reduced to a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday entity. Liberia’s aviation policing Authority has become reduced to a toothless bulldog.
As more than 150 member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) gathered in Montreal, Canada for this year’s Triennial Assembly, Liberia, a founding Member of the organization, made a poor, disgusting and irresponsible showing. The entire delegation was in disarray. Adequate preparations were found wanting. The formation of the delegation, which included the wife of the Director General of the Liberia CAA, Moses Kollie, strangely made the Liberian delegation. Sources say one of the best remaining minds at the CAA was dropped and replaced by Moses Kollie’s wife.
While it is not clear why the Director General would turn an official government delegation going for a major international conference into a personal safari, pundits are baffled at the deliberate action of the Director General of the Liberia CAA.
At ICAO Assembly (September 25–28, 2020) in Montreal, there was a complete lack of cohesion within the ranks of the Liberian delegation at the ICAO 41st Triennial Assembly. In time past, the CAA’s delegation would for months liaise with the Ministry of Transport, Airport Authority and the Robert Flight Information Region (RFIR) to brainstorm and come up with a position that would seek to comprehensively articulate the government’s official position at the ICAO Annual Assembly.
The formation of working groups, including aviation security, air navigation and surveillance, flight safety standards and a host of key issues to be examined are formed. According to eyewitnesses from Montreal, Canada, the Liberian delegation was largely uncoordinated and directionless. On the Director General, Moses Kollie: he was given an opportunity to make a statement, which was essentially not representative of any firm position coming from a founding member of the ICAO.
Eyewitnesses in Montreal say the only achievement at ICAO 41st Triennial Assembly members of the Liberian delegation that were drawn from the Ministry of Transport, Airport Authority and the Liberia CAA was an outlandish selfie in the corridors of the ICAO headquarters.
As the aviation sector suffers a nosedive due to an unattractive environment coupled with nonfunctional air navigational aids vis-a-vis poor management and outright incompetence, it remains to be seen why a policing organization like the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority (LCAA) would only open its doors to the public three days a week when it should be a 24/7 entity of government.
Like the former Director General, now Senator of Margibi County, Emmanuel Nuquaye, the Liberia CAA has become used to being used as a campaign fundraising fountain for individuals with political interest.
Rather than an agency of government that should be dedicated to aviation safety and security, political appointees with no knowledge and experience in the aviation sector are having a free ride to source campaign funding.
Unlike the previous LCAA leadership under former President Sirleaf, which focused on continued training, the industry would boast of the hiring and training of qualified personnel, including Augustine Tamba, Jonathan Enders, Amos Reeves, Moses Quiqui and the late David Wilson. Others professionally trained include Alexander Saye, Miatta Fully, Stephen Kesselly of the Air Traffic Control, who effectively managed the upper air space over Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
The airport, a key sector and gateway to the economy, is being placed at the tail end of the Weah-led pro-poor government. As incompetence continues to inundate the administration of President Weah, it is only a matter of time before the worst happens as the aviation industry in the country is being led and managed by a bunch of misfits. But Liberia will have to brace itself for unimaginable insurance coverage in the event of any untoward incident or accident. As safety and security remain paramount to the aviation sector, it is foolhardy why Liberia, a founding member of ICAO, would continue to be at the bottom of the ladder while Ghana, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea make tremendous progress, thus attracting enormous investments.