By Ishmael Zay-Bangura

Freetown, 31st March 2026– Sierra Leone has moved from promise to practice in its migration reforms, unveiling a fleet of vehicles and motorbikes to enforce the country’s new Unified Resident and Work Permit system.

The launch, staged at the Youyi Building on Tuesday, marked the moment when digital registration gained real-world muscle. Since January 1, 2026, the government has been rolling out the unified permit platform under a 15-year Build-Operate-Transfer agreement with Constrat Systems, ratified by Parliament in May 2025. Now, with twenty motorbikes and support vehicles branded and ready, enforcement officers can take the system beyond screens and into Sierra Leone’s districts.

“This initiative reflects the Government of His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio’s commitment to strengthening institutional capacity and ensuring our systems are responsive, transparent, and aligned with national development priorities,” said Employment and Labour Minister Mohamed Rahman Swaray. “A digital system is only as strong as the ability to verify it in the field. Today, we close that gap.”

For the Immigration Department, the deployment is more than transport its transformation. Chief Immigration Officer Moses Tiffa Baio described the fleet as a cornerstone of the Immigration Transformation Master Plan, aligned with the President’s “Big Five Game Changers” agenda. “By integrating digital systems with operational enforcement, we are enhancing compliance, improving security oversight, and ensuring a more accountable approach to residency and labour regulation,” Baio told reporters.

The twenty motorbikes, in particular, are designed to reach remote communities where compliance has long been difficult to monitor. Officers will now be able to verify permits in real time, coordinate across agencies, and ensure that both residents and foreign workers are properly registered.

Officials were clear: the grace period is ending. Paper-based permits are history. The unified digital platform accessible via www.unifiedpermit.gov.sl, is now the sole legal standard. “We now have the tools to go where we need to go, instantly,” a senior compliance officer said as the first motorbike roared to life. “If a business is employing a non-citizen who isn’t in that digital system, we will find them.”