By Mohamed Boye Jalloh, Norway.
Doc, as he was commonly known to members of his family, friends, colleagues and students, was Sierra Leone’s first Mathematical Statistician with a PhD in Probability Theory from the George Washington University (GWU) where he graduated in 1971.
A descendant of the Kompa Dumbuya ruling house of Gbabai in the Koya Chiefdom, Port Loko District in 1941, the late Dr. Alimamy Nuru Deen Koroma (photo) attended the District Education Committee School , Port Loko and later The Government School for Boys in Bo .
Having one of the best ordinary level results in the early years of Sierra Leone ’s independence he gained admission to Sierra Leone Grammar School where he did his Advanced level studies.
Proving his intellectual prowess he got a scholarship from the Government of the United States of America under the USAID program to study Engineering in the USA.He got his first degree in engineering from the GWU but discovered that he was more of a mathematician than an engineer and switched over to a master of philosophy course in mathematical statistics. Upon completion he was invited into the doctorial class and he completed that with honours.
He returned to Sierra Leone in 1973 and became a lecturer at the Njala University College , University of Sierra Leone in the Mathematics department where he was till 1982.
In 1982, following pressure from his kinsmen in the Port Loko south west constituency he entered politics and was Member of Parliament, upon the wish of the people till 1992.Within those years he proved that culture and traditional values were above all other considerations in this our short passage that is life in this world. He came down to the people to the level that his home and wellbeing suffered many a trial. In the political arena he was looked upon as an eccentric idealist and non-conformist with the order of the day, which was and is corruption and mismanagement.
In the latter days of the APC and upon the conditionality of the IMF for skilled state craft and management, he was briefly minister of Social Welfare and then Works after he had proved his mettle by heading the Sierra Leone Parliamentary Committee for the rights of the Child, a committee that made very valuable contributions to the African Charter on the Rights of the Child which declared 16th June as The Day of The African Child in commemoration of the 1975 SOWETO massacre of over 160 school children.
Alhaji Doctor Alimamy Nuru Deen Koroma is an example that, anyone who knows him and who cares for humanity and posterity, will emulate. In his intellectual abundance he lived the simple life and listened to everyone even the mad and the dumb.
He is survived by his wife and life long friend, Alhaja Assiatou Neneh Koroma and several children who all live in the USA .
MAY ALLAH REWARD HIM WITH WHAT HE LOST HERE IN THE LIFE EVERLASTING! AMEN!!!
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