JUST TWO DAYS to the end of May 2025, Liberians were greeted with a scaring news of a ‘missed national calamity’ involving the Chief Executive of the Republic, Joseph Nyuma Boakai and his entourage en route from an ECOWAS meeting held in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
IT WAS THURSDAY, 29th May when a private jet rented to fly President Boakai and his entourage made a rough landing at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) in Margibi County.
THE INCIDENT CREATED speculations about a ‘sub- standard nature of the airport amid government’s reported achievable progress in attracting national and international travelers into and out of Liberia.
HOWEVER, THE MANAGEMENT of RIA told the public that the incident occurred when the private jet developed a technical problem thereby leading to rough landing.
IN OTHER WORDS, as we have learnt, the so-called technical problem which resulted to bursting the jet’s tire was blamed on a malfunction of the plane’s landing gear.
INDEED, WE MUST praise God Almighty that a tragedy did not take place for lives to be taken away under a circumstance that could have plunged our nation into wailing and touching sadness.
YET, WE HAVE been troubled as pieces of information leading to the status of the private jet unfolded, that the plane in question is a 1989 model, an indication that the life span of the jet is 36 years.
THOUGH UNFORTUNATE THE incident has been, it should claim our government’s prompt attention to identify sources of funding to purchase presidential jet for Liberia.
IT IS AN irony to boast of abundant natural resources that generate revenues but yet we cannot own a presidential jet to curtail renting or lobbying for private jets to provide VIP travels for Liberian presidents.
OUR CURRENT NATIONAL leaders need to recall the days of Samuel Kanyan Doe and William R. Tolbert. At the time, we are told the country owned plane for president’s travels.
EVEN THOUGH FORMER Finance Minister Emmanuel Shaw and former Justice Minister Jenkins Z.B. Scott and others were linked to the sale of the country’s plane when Liberia was engulfed by brutal civil war, we believe our current government can strive to own presidential jet to discourage renting private jets for travels.
ON THIS NOTE, let the recent private jet’s fiasco at the RIA teach us a moral lesson that the age of Liberia since 1847 up to present cannot encourage or impress us to be renting private jets to afford VIP air travels for a Liberian President.