Amidst efforts by Management to bring sanity to the Administration, sources at the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration have told this medium that certain members of Management are in collusion with members of the Board and the Ministry of Transport and Aviation in a scheme aimed at creating panic and pandemonium within the Administration.

In the last four months, since the reinstatement of the Executive Director, a rouge cabal headed by one Hassan Lahai, have continually made efforts to undermine Senior Management through an alliance with certain members of the Board of Directors and a certain official in the Ministry of Transport and Aviation.

Very recently, head of the rogue cabal, Hassan Lahai, who doubles as Director of Finance was emboldened by his cohorts in the Board and Ministry to unnecessarily “query” the Executive Director; knowing fully well that he possesses no such powers as a subordinate to the Executive Director.

A senior member of staff confirmed to this medium that in another instance, Hassan Lahai as Director of Finance photocopied documents and forwarded to the Board, the Ministry and the media, including bank statements, payroll records, internal memos and other confidential documents.

This medium is also in receipt of copies of documents leaked to various media houses from the same Hassan Lahai. Our investigations have led us to an organized syndicate, supported by individuals in the Board and Ministry who are strongly opposed to the reinstatement of the Executive Director.

We have uncovered that these efforts by Hassan Lahai and his handlers are simply borne out of malaise, geared towards undermining the SLMA leadership and creating an unstable working environment.

The Executive Director refused to comment when we contacted him, says, he’s focused on building an SLMA that is effective and efficient to complement government’s efforts in revenue mobilization, especially in the Blue Economy. He added that he will not be distracted.

We have also made frantic efforts to contact Hassan Lahai but has been futile.