The authenticity of Sierra Leonean passports remains a big question for Jamal Shallop and his company’s associates (Netpage) to answer as citizens demand to know if their nation’s passports which they are paying 100 dollars for are authentic or fake. While Jamal and his company associates are busy eating millions of dollars from these poor masses, the masses continue to bear the consequences.
Meanwhile, Hassan Musa Koroma, not his real name, a Sierra Leonean citizen, reported to this medium that he was embarrassed at the Accra International Airport. According to Koroma, all other Sierra Leonean passengers who were at the airport were sent to a non-biometric queue where they issued only machine readable to them as other nationals with Biometric Passports were easily verified and attended to without any embarrassment as compared to what Sierra Leoneans face during their overseas traveling.
Koroma further said that he went to the Ghana Immigration department to confirm the status of Sierra Leonean passports, and he was surprised when a senior immigration officer in Ghana told him that Sierra Leonean passports are not biometric and he started questioning himself, If our nation’s passports are not biometric why should we pay 100 dollars to purchase one?” he opinionated. He was further surprised when he compared the features of our passport with a Ugandan standing close to him.
Koroma said the Ugandan fellow who stood by him interrogated him to know about the passport and he said there is no difference between the Ugandan passport and the British passports. He quickly reflected his mind home to the ongoing media fight where media houses who are in favor of Jamal Shallop because of what they’ve been getting from him were deliberate in debunking the publications of media houses that truly speak for the masses.