After nearly twenty years of operations in Sierra Leone Air France has finally folded up its operations in Sierra Leone and this is obviously sad news for the people and a devastating blow to Maada Bio and his thieving SLPP bandits. Maada Bio’s investment environment is the poorest in the sub-region and the undemocratic agenda of his SLPP regime has made foreign investors much more afraid to come to Sierra Leone to do business.

The grim day happened on Saturday, October 28, 2023, when Air France said ‘Enough is Enough’ of the nonsense to operate in Sierra Leone. This pulling-out agenda was announced a few months ago after the chaotic June 24, 2023 elections which Maada Bio stole from the real winner Dr Samura Kamara of the APC party. The violence and arson that followed the polls were enough to justify why Air France and other foreign investors were and still pulling out of Sierra Leone faster than they came.

Air France has unquestionably contributed immensely to uplifting the tourism sector, and the aviation business, creating jobs, paying fabulous taxes to the Sierra Leone government and so on. Their closure in Sierra Leone is not good for the illegal regime and the country in general. “It is bad business here. Look at the taxes being imposed on us on a daily basis. Passengers have stopped using Lungi Airport which is not good for business. Most passengers are now using Conakry and Monrovia routes instead of Lungi because it is cheaper in those countries,” a local staff of Air France in Freetown told the Organiser newspaper.

Even the newly established Terminal at Lungi Airport, which blind SLPP supporters still called the new ‘Airport’, is not enough to lure Air France to stay. The discontinuation of Air France is bad news. It is a complete setback for the country as there are already limited airlines operating in Sierra Leone. Meanwhile, competent reports reaching this newspaper have intimated that Brussels Airlines is contemplating ending its operations very soon too. Brussels Airlines is presently the biggest airline operating in Sierra Leone. As we go to press, Sierra Leone is not attracting foreign investors in many departments. In fact, it is the opposite. Many businesses are leaving the country in droves, thanks to Maada Bio’s bad governance.