Summary
- Simeon Freeman, political leader of the opposition Movement for Progressive Change has claimed that the yearly traffic of the RIA is less than 100,000 passengers
- We have verified the claim by reviewing the website of the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority
- We found Mr. Freeman statement to be misleading; according to the LCAA, the RIA serves more than 228,000 passengers yearly.
On October 23, Simeon Freeman, the political leader of the opposition Movement for Progressive Change claimed in an OK FM interview that the yearly air traffic for Liberia or the Roberts International Airport – RIA is less than 100,000 passengers.
Mr. Freeman made the claimed while frowning at the Liberian government for alleged overcharges at various ports of entry, an action he said is making the government miss revenue generation opportunities from cargo and transit points.
The Claim
Said Mr. Freeman: “We want to compare ourselves with other airports when in fact, less than 100,000 passengers travelling out of Liberia per year, our entire traffic per year.”
Watch the claim here:
Rating Justification
To verify the claim, we placed several calls to Mr. Freeman to inquire about the source of his information regarding Liberia’s entire traffic per year, but he did not respond to our calls. We will update this report once he provides the source of the claim.
We then reviewed the official website of the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority, an agency of the government that regulates and promotes civil aviation activities in Liberia
On its website, the LCAA notes that the Roberts International Airport (RIA), which is the biggest international airport in the country, currently serves more than 228,000 domestic and international passengers annually. The Aviation Authority also states on its website that the RIA is expected to receive more than 450,000 annual passengers over the next few years.
We also contacted the management of the RIA through its communication department concerning the yearly traffic of the airport.
Mr. Jefferson Daryou, Head of Communications OF ria, also informed our fact-checking desk through WhatsApp that between January and December 2023, the airport had 98,840 passengers traveling to Liberia, 91,105 from Liberia, and 44,451 in transit.
Conclusion
Based on our findings, we conclude that the claim made by MPC Political Leader Simeon Freeman that Liberia’s yearly air traffic is less than 100,000 is misleading.
According to the management of the RIA and the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority, the RIA serves more than 228,000 passengers yearly. This number, according to the LCAA is expected to increase to 450,000 over the next few years.
