Sierra Leone Telegraph: 04 June 2025:
According to the most recent findings by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Sierra Leone has become a trans-shipment hub for cocaine and heroin, routed from South America and Asia to Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United States.
The report highlights how weak law enforcement, systemic corruption, and an overburdened criminal justice system make the country ripe for exploitation by transnational drug networks. The picture it paints is sobering: a fragile democracy teetering on the edge of narco-politics.
This alarming reality stands in stark contrast to the glowing commendations Sierra Leone once received from the United Nations, which cited the country as a storehouse of lessons on post-conflict reconstruction and peace consolidation.
For years, Sierra Leone was a global example of how inclusive governance, democratic resilience, and public sector reform could rebuild a war-ravaged nation. That reputation is now under threat, undermined by a government that promised rebranding but delivered regression.
In 2018, President Julius Maada Bio rose to power on a wave of political theatre and promises to “rebrand Sierra Leone.”
Seven years later, and with party primaries now heating up ahead of the 2028 general elections, that promise has crumbled under the weight of scandal, incompetence, and elite’s complicity in international crime.
The Liedjeka Affair, A Mirror to the Rot
No case better encapsulates the corrosion of state integrity than that of Jos Liedjeka, a Belgian national and one of Europe’s most wanted drug lords, who not only found refuge in Sierra Leone but allegedly developed intimate ties to the ruling family and government officials.
International media reports show Liedjeka appearing freely in Freetown, even at events attended by the president himself. He was shot at least twice in Sierra Leone, in 2021 and again in 2023, under murky circumstances while moving under state protection.
Even more scandalous is his rumoured romantic relationship with President Bio’s daughter, and his alleged business engagements with senior government figures in the security and administrative sectors.
These are not coincidences. They are symptoms of an alarming reality: the erosion of institutional independence, where the line between governance and criminality has been dangerously blurred.
From Transit Point to Narco Gateway
The U.S. State Department report makes it clear, Sierra Leone is no longer just a fragile democracy, it is an operational base for drug smuggling syndicates. Border controls are ineffective. Law enforcement agencies are politicized. The judiciary is backlogged and easily manipulated.
Several multi-million-dollar drug seizures at Lungi International Airport have mysteriously disappeared from public record, reportedly settled through “negotiations” that shield those involved. While no public official has been indicted, insiders point to an entrenched system where drug money is laundered and funnelled into political networks, with eyes already on 2028 electoral funding.
A Generation Drowning in Kush
The human cost of this criminal economy is devastating. Across Freetown, Bo, Kenema, and beyond, young people are falling victim to “kush”, a cheap, synthetic drug whose destructive effects are visible in every hospital ward and alleyway.
The government has made no serious investment in addiction recovery or youth rehabilitation. What should be a national emergency has been reduced to passing mentions in speeches, even as the ruling elite enrich themselves on the backs of broken families and poisoned futures.
First Lady’s Real Estate Spree, A Symbol of Impunity
While children die in public hospitals due to a lack of medication, First Lady Fatima Bio has reportedly embarked on an extravagant real estate purchasing spree in The Gambia, acquiring luxury property under murky financial disclosures. This is tone-deaf behaviour is a public insult to struggling Sierra Leoneans and a direct affront to anti-corruption principles.
Empathy Absent, Governance as Organized Hypocrisy
At the core of this national regression is a President who governs without empathy and a political class obsessed with power and privilege. Corruption is no longer episodic, it is structural. Institutions have become instruments of personal enrichment.
State power is used to protect criminals, silence dissent, and suppress transparency.
This failure of policy is a deliberate design of governance without conscience.
From Global Partner to Global Liability
During the APC-led administration, Sierra Leone rebuilt its international image. It hosted the African Development Bank meetings in 2017, led peacekeeping missions, and earned praise for its fiscal reforms and democratic stability. Today, that prestige has been squandered.
The press is muzzled. Activists are intimidated. Development partners are losing faith. Sierra Leone is no longer seen as a success story, it is becoming a liability on the regional and global stage, a cautionary tale of how post-conflict gains can be erased through political greed and criminal partnerships.
2028, A Referendum on Sierra Leone’s Future
With party primaries gaining momentum ahead of the 2028 general elections, the stakes could not be higher. Civil society, the international community, and, above all, the people of Sierra Leone must demand a reckoning.
The question is no longer whether Sierra Leone can change course, it is whether its people are prepared to fight for leaders who prioritize integrity, justice, and national dignity over criminal collusion and dynastic wealth accumulation.
Because the alternative is a slow, tragic descent into narco-authoritarianism, where votes are bought with drug money and democracy becomes a distant memory.
You can read the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs: State Department 2021 – 2025 Report here:
Be the first to comment