Sierra Leone Airports Authority (SLAA)

What the Authority does

The Authority says it was established by Act No. 8 of 1988 ¹. It describes itself as an autonomous and self-sustaining entity with a mandate to manage Freetown International Airport and Hastings Airfield ¹. Its website lists a navigation service, procurement, business opportunities and customer service, and links to a flight and boat schedule ¹.

The Authority is a public enterprise. It is separate from the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority, which is the regulator under the Civil Aviation Act 2023 ⁶. Under that Act, the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority issues airport certificates and sets minimum safety standards for airport operation ⁶.

The Authority and the Summa concession

The Government of Sierra Leone signed a build, operate and transfer agreement with Summa Airports (SL) Limited dated 12 November 2020 ⁷. Parliament ratified it on 16 December 2020 ⁷. A press release on Runway Girl Network reported that Summa holds the right to run the airport for 25 years, after which ownership passes to the government ². The division of tasks and revenue between the Authority and Summa during the concession was not found in a published document for this page. The concession agreement itself was not available.

Audit and anti-corruption findings

Audit Service Sierra Leone's report on the 2020 accounts, sent to Parliament in December 2021, noted Le7 billion and Le4.9 billion given to the Authority for staff salaries and aircraft rescue equipment ³. Both loan figures were not disclosed in the government's financial statements, and the comfort letter for the equipment loan was not given to auditors ³. The graphic summary of that report said the Authority took a loan of Le4,071,900,000 from Zenith Bank without Ministry of Finance approval, as the Public Debts Management Act 2011 requires ⁸.

The report on the 2021 accounts, sent in December 2022, listed a Le7 billion stimulus loan to the Authority ⁴. The first repayment was due at the end of January 2021, and no documents confirmed any repayment ⁴.

The official response

The Anti-Corruption Commission investigated the loans flagged in the 2020 report ⁵. It found the Authority took a Zenith Bank loan of about EUR 407,190 for an aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle, and that this loan was fully repaid with interest ⁵. It found a Le7 billion government bailout through the Ministry of Finance for second quarter 2020 salaries and operations, paid in four instalments in July 2020 ⁵. The Authority had asked for Le9.62 billion ⁵. The Commission noted that the audit gave the equipment loan as Le4.9 billion, against the Le4,071,900,000 it found ⁵.

The Commission said both funds were used for their intended purposes ⁵. It found no Ministry of Finance comfort letter for the bank loan and said bailout repayment had not started ⁵. It recommended monitoring repayment and compliance with the law on guarantees for state-owned enterprises ⁵. The Sierra Leone Telegraph published the Commission's report on 30 March 2022 ⁹.