By Kemo Cham
An aggrieved Sierra Leonean passenger is angry with Asky Airlines over how it is handling his complaint of missing baggage.
Sheku Kamara, who traveled from China to Freetown onboard an Asky flight on November 21, 2019, said on arrival at Lungi he couldn’t locate one of his baggage. The flight transited in Accra, Ghana, where Kamara said he last saw the missing luggage.
Kamara said he had provided all the information the airlines requested since the incident was reported but he hasn’t been seeing any indication that the management is willing to address his concerns.
The missing bag contained footballs, football boots and over a dozen watches, among others, according to Kamara who works for the National Olympic Committee as coach for the Paralympic team. He said he was in China for a training.
“The airline people are tricky, from all the information they are requesting from me, it seems they want me to abandon the case,” Kamara told Politico while lamenting the delay in investigation by the airlines.
He complained the alleged maltreatment he had been subjected by the Freetown office since he began expressing frustration over their handling of the matter.
ASKY Airlines is run under a joint venture between Ethiopian Airlines, its parent company and West African governments. It has its head office in Lomé, Togo, from where it operates across several West and Central African countries.
The airline is represented by Andrew Augustine Lansana as Station and Country Manager in Sierra Leone.
Mr Lansana denied maltreating Kamara and said the matter was been handled by the Asky head office in Lome. He told Politico that they were doing the tracing through World Tracer, which took time to complete.
“All the necessary documents filed in have been sent to the head office and that is where the decision is taken,” Lansana stated on a telephone interview.
“One person doesn’t take decision on it. I have my bosses in Lome and this is the usual procedure,” he added.
The Asky Country Manager went on to say that he’d repeatedly explain this to Mr Kamara and his lawyer, but that the complainant was inpatient with them.
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