By Alpha Amadu Jalloh
Since President Julius Maada Bio assumed office in April 2018, his administration’s foreign travel has reached dizzying heights. It has become common to hear about yet another high-profile trip. Summits in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas, always with large entourages and at costs that ordinary Sierra Leoneans can barely fathom. But beyond the glamour lies a far more troubling question. What is all this costing the country, and how is it affecting our fragile economy?
Public reporting over the years reveals a series of very large withdrawals from the government’s Local and Overseas Travel Account, maintained at the Bank of Sierra Leone. In 2022 alone, President Bio and the First Lady reportedly withdrew Le71.4 billion for per diems associated with international travels. That works out to roughly Le7 billion a month just to cover daily allowances, not including flights or accommodation. In some public finance summaries, total overseas travel spending for 2022 is said to have reached Le87 billion, a dramatic peak compared to previous years.
Looking further, the reported totals from his earlier years in office are already striking. In the first half of 2018 alone, the President and his spouse are said to have drawn Le23.85 billion in travel related and unspecified personal funds. The following years remained elevated. In 2019, travel outlays were reported at Le40.43 billion. In 2020, Le27.48 billion. In 2021, Le24.7 billion by many accounts. When we add together the verified publicly reported amounts for 2018 to 2022, the total rises to Le203.47 billion, a sum that in United States dollars at a mid 2025 exchange rate equates to nearly US$9.7 million.
Of course, the story does not end with 2022. Data for 2023, 2024, and the first half of 2025 are less clearly documented, but based on realistic projections and patterns it is possible to estimate the cumulative cost of presidential travels since 2018. In a moderate scenario, assuming 2023 spending remains high but modestly lower than 2022 and that the first six months of 2024 and 2025 maintain that level, the total cost could reach Le378.47 billion or about US$18.05 million. In a more aggressive scenario, where 2023 and early 2025 match 2022’s peak spending, the cumulative figure might climb to Le 420.97 billion or around US$20 million.
Beyond the money, the number of trips is itself staggering. While no fully official publicly accessible trip ledger exists, media investigations suggest that President Bio and his delegation have made approximately 150 overseas trips since 2018. Depending on how one counts delegation trips, ministerial stops, and First Lady’s participation, this likely falls in a range between 120 and 180 distinct travel missions. In other words, on average, Bio has traveled internationally almost 20 times per year since coming to power. A frenetic pace for a head of state, especially in a country with such limited resources.
Such enormous travel spending has been quietly eroding Sierra Leone’s fiscal space. The opportunity cost is sobering. Tens or even hundreds of billions of Leones diverted to charters, per diems, hotel bills, and daily subsistence allowances could have been invested in health clinics, classroom construction, rural roads, or water systems. In a country where many citizens still struggle for basic services, that kind of capital makes a real difference. Every Leone spent on private travel is a Leone not spent on development.
The spending also risks worsening budget deficits and debt stress. Repeated large outflows from the central bank and government travel accounts could force the government to borrow more or divert funds away from productive public investment. If this trend continues unchecked, it may undermine Sierra Leone’s fiscal stability in the medium to long term.
Even more chilling is the weak transparency surrounding these expenditures. Numerous reports point to cash withdrawals in foreign currency, large payments made without clear documentation, and questionable auditing. In one highly publicized trip, hundreds of thousands of dollars were reportedly withdrawn in cash, purportedly to cover medical costs and subsistence allowances. Auditors raised concerns that no supporting documentation existed to prove that the claimed medical expenses had indeed been paid. In some cases, hotel invoices submitted to justify parts of trips could not be verified or were allegedly falsified.
Adding insult to injury, the former Auditor General herself was reportedly suspended after she probed Bio’s travel related expenditures. Such moves raise serious red flags. When the office tasked with checking expenditures is silenced, how can the public trust that travel funds are being used prudently, transparently, and in the national interest?
The political and symbolic implications are deep. While ordinary Sierra Leoneans struggle with rising food prices, underfunded hospitals, and limited infrastructure, the executive jet setting lifestyle being financed with public money feeds a narrative of disconnected and extravagant leadership. It fosters resentment, fuels opposition, and undermines the legitimacy of genuine diplomacy.
To restore the public’s trust and protect our national resources, decisive action is needed. First, the Presidency should publish full detailed travel accounts for every international trip. The costs of flights, per diems, hotels, transport arrangements, and who exactly travelled. This should not be hidden behind closed door accounting. The public has a right to know.
Second, Parliament and or an independent audit body must conduct a thorough examination of the Local and Overseas Travel Account. This audit should reconcile all withdrawals, including cash, verify invoices, and recover any funds that were misused or unnecessarily disbursed.
Third, Sierra Leone urgently needs a public enforceable overseas travel policy. Such a policy should set clear limits on per diems, define when private charters are justified, cap delegation sizes, and require prior parliamentary or ministerial approval for high cost trips. Without rules, such spending will persist and public funds will continue to evaporate in the name of prestige.
Fourth, cash payments must be minimized. Wherever possible, large sums should be paid via bank transfer or cheque with strict documentation requirements so that each Leone disbursed can be traced, justified, and audited. Cash based systems simply invite abuse.
Finally, civil society, media, and citizens must be vigilant. Public scrutiny, investigative journalism, and watchdog activism are vital. The people of Sierra Leone deserve to hold their leaders to account. The more we demand transparency, the less room there is for misuse and extravagance.
The story of President Bio’s foreign travel is not one of simple diplomacy or global outreach. It is a story of public money being spent at breakneck speed, often with scant oversight and little accountability. With up to Le 420 billion potentially spent on travels since 2018 and as many as 150 trips flown, the stakes are high.
If these funds had been channeled into schools, healthcare, or infrastructure, we might be seeing real progress on the ground instead of the perpetual spectacle of jet setting. Sierra Leone is not a country of infinite resources. Every dollar or Leone spent poorly is a blow to development, trust, and equity.
It is time for a reckoning. Not with politics but with accountability. Not with slogans but with transparent books. Because for a nation striving to overcome structural poverty and inequality, how we spend matters just as much as why we travel.