Maimuna Taal cleared
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Maimuna Taal cleared
Hi all;
I don't usually browse this forum, being in Europe, but I read this piece in the International Herald Tribune last week when on holiday in France. This lady is an absolute star and if she doesn't get snapped up by one of the big air safety agencies then there is something wrong in this world;
A champion of air safety in Africa who wouldn't be cowed
By Don Phillips
Updated:
Aug. 6, 2007 4:23 pm (Paris)
--------------
Maimuna Taal, the former director general of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority, once considered the star of the aviation safety movement in Africa, quietly left Gambia for England in May after a court cleared her of charges that she had misused public funds and engaged in financial irregularities.
Top world aviation safety figures said the Gambian government's charges were originally designed to get her out of the way so that two poorly maintained old Boeing 747s could quickly be made ready to carry Muslim pilgrims to Mecca in 2005. Taal refused to sanction use of the planes for passengers, saying at least a year would be required to make the planes airworthy. One day after she was removed from office, Gambia certified the planes, owned by a wealthy foreigner, for immediate use.
"I didn't dance to the tune," she said.
Preliminary aviation safety data indicate that aviation safety in Africa, while still about 25 times worse than in the United States on a crash-per-million miles basis, has improved somewhat since Taal's arrest. In that period, world aviation groups have used a combination of monetary penalties and publicity to punish African countries that do not crack down on poor safety practices.
"I think it's getting better," Taal said of safety in Africa. But she said it needs to be much better, and it will not improve until the political will arises to stand up to bribery and corruption. Countries like Gambia go backward, she said, but countries like Nigeria grow much stronger as champions of safety. Nigeria's political leadership began a major push for safety after several crashes killed 221 people and created a political backlash.
"It was the people's will," Taal said of Nigeria's safety push. "They have the right to fly from one place to another without dying."
Charles Schlumberger, principal air transport specialist with the World Bank, said that there were other dedicated people like Taal throughout Africa, but that many African politicians had difficulty understanding why they should worry about aviation safety when millions of citizens die every year from diseases like malaria and only a few hundred die in plane crashes. Others readily accept bribes.
"It's not the average politician's worry," he said. Therefore, the West must keep up the pressure, he said.
Schlumberger has cut millions of dollars in aviation aid to African countries, including Gambia, after Taal was arrested, sending a strong signal that a corrupt approach to aviation safety would not be tolerated.
World aviation organizations like the International Air Transport Association have also cracked down, providing technical aid to countries that want to improve while expelling countries that do not make a serious effort to do so.
In most of Africa, particularly in west Africa, aviation safety is not a priority, Schlumberger said. However, there has been somewhat more progress in east Africa.
The situation is much better in north Africa and in southern Africa, where South Africa and Ethiopia have long had mature and safe aviation systems, he said. Countries like Tanzania and Mozambique have made good progress, he said.
However, the continent still has the worst safety record on earth, when viewed over the last available decade, 1996 to 2005. In that period, while the rest of the world was improving, Africa's was the world's worst and continued to deteriorate.
A standard of fatal crashes per million departures dramatically illustrates Africa's declining safety record. In the first half of the 1996-2005 decade, Africa registered 3.6 fatal crashes per million departures. In the second half of the decade, that number rose to five.
Only one other region of the world had a rising crash rate, the Middle East, but even it was safer than Africa, rising from 0.5 to 1.8 fatal crashes per million departures. The United States, with the best safety record on earth, declined from 0.7 to a record low 0.4 in that period, and Europe dropped from 0.8 to 0.6. Latin America, with the second-worst safety record, dropped from 2.4 to 1.7 fatal crashes per million departures.
Using a more common measurement - destroyed aircraft per million departures, even if there is no fatality - Africa is much worse. For the 1996-2005 decade, Africa had 9.7 "hull losses" - the total loss of an airplane - per million departures, while the United States had 0.4 and Europe 0.6.
Taal was released from custody into house arrest early in the legal process, and her passport and computer were seized. Nonetheless, she managed to maintain computer and phone contact with the outside world.
Over almost two years, no Gambian court found her guilty. Gambian courts are made up mostly of independent non-Gambian citizens under an agreement by wealthier African countries to support the judicial systems of poorer countries. However, new charges were brought against her again each time, or a mistrial was declared followed by reinstated charges.
Taal refused to sneak out of the country, even when offered help by international groups, saying she would prove she was not guilty. Once a court found her not guilty of all charges on May 9, she decided to leave for London, where her parents live.
In the end, the action was costly to the Gambian government and to the owners of the planes. The World Bank cut off millions of dollars in aviation safety grants. And after action against Taal was publicized in the international press, Nigeria quietly served notice the 747s intended for the hajj might be seized if they landed in the country. Saudi Arabia, the destination of the hajj, then denied permission for the planes to enter that country.
At the time of her arrest on Nov. 24, 2005, Taal was head of a multi-country safety agency in East Africa called the Banjul Group, designed to make it more difficult for individual countries to defeat aviation safety goals. It was composed of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea and - at that time - Gambia.
William Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, said Taal's ordeal and the publicity surrounding it showed that the future of aviation safety in Africa was in such multi-country organizations.
"This episode highlighted the need for an independent regulator in Africa," Voss said in an interview.
Fansu Bojang, Taal's successor as director of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this article. The Gambian Embassy in Washington also did not respond.
When Taal was arrested, Voss was the head of aviation safety for the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, set up by the United Nations after World War II to establish worldwide standards for the then-new civil aviation industry. He was one of the chief behind-the-scenes officials working to free her, along with Schlumberger.
In the latest issue of Aero Safety World, his new foundation's publication, Voss praised Taal for her courage and raised the possibility that she might not have lived through the ordeal if not for worldwide publicity.
"Back-door communication with the international press prompted some to come to her defense, providing the visibility that she thinks may have saved her life," Voss wrote.
--------------
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I don't usually browse this forum, being in Europe, but I read this piece in the International Herald Tribune last week when on holiday in France. This lady is an absolute star and if she doesn't get snapped up by one of the big air safety agencies then there is something wrong in this world;
A champion of air safety in Africa who wouldn't be cowed
By Don Phillips
Updated:
Aug. 6, 2007 4:23 pm (Paris)
--------------
Maimuna Taal, the former director general of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority, once considered the star of the aviation safety movement in Africa, quietly left Gambia for England in May after a court cleared her of charges that she had misused public funds and engaged in financial irregularities.
Top world aviation safety figures said the Gambian government's charges were originally designed to get her out of the way so that two poorly maintained old Boeing 747s could quickly be made ready to carry Muslim pilgrims to Mecca in 2005. Taal refused to sanction use of the planes for passengers, saying at least a year would be required to make the planes airworthy. One day after she was removed from office, Gambia certified the planes, owned by a wealthy foreigner, for immediate use.
"I didn't dance to the tune," she said.
Preliminary aviation safety data indicate that aviation safety in Africa, while still about 25 times worse than in the United States on a crash-per-million miles basis, has improved somewhat since Taal's arrest. In that period, world aviation groups have used a combination of monetary penalties and publicity to punish African countries that do not crack down on poor safety practices.
"I think it's getting better," Taal said of safety in Africa. But she said it needs to be much better, and it will not improve until the political will arises to stand up to bribery and corruption. Countries like Gambia go backward, she said, but countries like Nigeria grow much stronger as champions of safety. Nigeria's political leadership began a major push for safety after several crashes killed 221 people and created a political backlash.
"It was the people's will," Taal said of Nigeria's safety push. "They have the right to fly from one place to another without dying."
Charles Schlumberger, principal air transport specialist with the World Bank, said that there were other dedicated people like Taal throughout Africa, but that many African politicians had difficulty understanding why they should worry about aviation safety when millions of citizens die every year from diseases like malaria and only a few hundred die in plane crashes. Others readily accept bribes.
"It's not the average politician's worry," he said. Therefore, the West must keep up the pressure, he said.
Schlumberger has cut millions of dollars in aviation aid to African countries, including Gambia, after Taal was arrested, sending a strong signal that a corrupt approach to aviation safety would not be tolerated.
World aviation organizations like the International Air Transport Association have also cracked down, providing technical aid to countries that want to improve while expelling countries that do not make a serious effort to do so.
In most of Africa, particularly in west Africa, aviation safety is not a priority, Schlumberger said. However, there has been somewhat more progress in east Africa.
The situation is much better in north Africa and in southern Africa, where South Africa and Ethiopia have long had mature and safe aviation systems, he said. Countries like Tanzania and Mozambique have made good progress, he said.
However, the continent still has the worst safety record on earth, when viewed over the last available decade, 1996 to 2005. In that period, while the rest of the world was improving, Africa's was the world's worst and continued to deteriorate.
A standard of fatal crashes per million departures dramatically illustrates Africa's declining safety record. In the first half of the 1996-2005 decade, Africa registered 3.6 fatal crashes per million departures. In the second half of the decade, that number rose to five.
Only one other region of the world had a rising crash rate, the Middle East, but even it was safer than Africa, rising from 0.5 to 1.8 fatal crashes per million departures. The United States, with the best safety record on earth, declined from 0.7 to a record low 0.4 in that period, and Europe dropped from 0.8 to 0.6. Latin America, with the second-worst safety record, dropped from 2.4 to 1.7 fatal crashes per million departures.
Using a more common measurement - destroyed aircraft per million departures, even if there is no fatality - Africa is much worse. For the 1996-2005 decade, Africa had 9.7 "hull losses" - the total loss of an airplane - per million departures, while the United States had 0.4 and Europe 0.6.
Taal was released from custody into house arrest early in the legal process, and her passport and computer were seized. Nonetheless, she managed to maintain computer and phone contact with the outside world.
Over almost two years, no Gambian court found her guilty. Gambian courts are made up mostly of independent non-Gambian citizens under an agreement by wealthier African countries to support the judicial systems of poorer countries. However, new charges were brought against her again each time, or a mistrial was declared followed by reinstated charges.
Taal refused to sneak out of the country, even when offered help by international groups, saying she would prove she was not guilty. Once a court found her not guilty of all charges on May 9, she decided to leave for London, where her parents live.
In the end, the action was costly to the Gambian government and to the owners of the planes. The World Bank cut off millions of dollars in aviation safety grants. And after action against Taal was publicized in the international press, Nigeria quietly served notice the 747s intended for the hajj might be seized if they landed in the country. Saudi Arabia, the destination of the hajj, then denied permission for the planes to enter that country.
At the time of her arrest on Nov. 24, 2005, Taal was head of a multi-country safety agency in East Africa called the Banjul Group, designed to make it more difficult for individual countries to defeat aviation safety goals. It was composed of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Guinea and - at that time - Gambia.
William Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, said Taal's ordeal and the publicity surrounding it showed that the future of aviation safety in Africa was in such multi-country organizations.
"This episode highlighted the need for an independent regulator in Africa," Voss said in an interview.
Fansu Bojang, Taal's successor as director of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this article. The Gambian Embassy in Washington also did not respond.
When Taal was arrested, Voss was the head of aviation safety for the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, set up by the United Nations after World War II to establish worldwide standards for the then-new civil aviation industry. He was one of the chief behind-the-scenes officials working to free her, along with Schlumberger.
In the latest issue of Aero Safety World, his new foundation's publication, Voss praised Taal for her courage and raised the possibility that she might not have lived through the ordeal if not for worldwide publicity.
"Back-door communication with the international press prompted some to come to her defense, providing the visibility that she thinks may have saved her life," Voss wrote.
--------------
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Copyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune. All rights reserved.
Feasant Plucker
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One day after she was removed from office, Gambia certified the planes, owned by a wealthy foreigner, for immediate use.
As an aside, what about Slok Air Gambia? Same story? Anyone care to comment? Perhaps things have changed there............
