Opinion
Former First Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Sorie Ibrahim Koroma who also acted as president on many occasions during the All People’s Congress regime of Dr. Siaka Probyn Stevens, died sixteen years ago. He died at his Wilberforce residence in Freetown on Saturday April 30 1994 after a lengthy illness. He was 67 years old when he answered to the call of Allah.
Surprisingly, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma outlived most of those who worked surreptitiously to thwart his chances of becoming President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. Former Temne tribal leader western area Ahmed Multi Kamara and former second vice president Francis M. Minah were leading figures in the campaign against Sorie Ibrahim Koroma. Both preceded S.I. Koroma.
While Multi Kamara publicly denounced S. I. Koroma as being a Madingo and not a Temne to humiliate him and rob him of the Temne support he had, Minah was the brain behind the obnoxious and unsavory constitutional amendment that politically torpedoed S. I. Koroma. According to the 1978 One Party Constitution, the first vice president becomes the president on the death of the president or when the president becomes incapacitated. Francis M. Minah (who was then second vice president) also had an eye on the presidency. Realizing that he would not succeed in becoming president of Sierra Leone, he came up with the idea of a collegial executive to act in the place of the first vice president – thus making it impossible for SI to automatically become president.
Implicated in a coup against the APC regime of Joseph Saidu Momoh, Minah was executed together with others involved in the coup plot. Alhaji Musa Kabia who tabled the motion for a constitutional amendment to prevent S.I. Koroma from becoming president was killed during the bloody restoration of President Ahmad Tejan Kabba by Sandline Mercenaries and Kamajors (civil militia)operating under the auspices of the regional peace keeping force ECOMOG. Musa Kabia was among those burnt to death for “collaborating” with the rapacious RUF-AFRC junta by SLPP over-zealous supporters. A car tire was placed around his neck, petrol was poured on him, his fingers were chopped off and he was finally set ablaze while people watched in broad day light. That was "neck-lacing" SLPP style! Was it retributive justice for betraying his own northern brother S. I. Koroma?
After sixteen years of the passing away of the former political strongman of the APC, S I Koroma, we should reflect on what he did and try to find out whether he was really power-thirsty as he was construed by many people, especially those in the Sierra Leone Peoples Party. Some even called him “Agba Satani” because he was seemingly fearless and ruthless when it comes to dealing with political foes. Was he a tyrant, a dictator, a political steamroller, a megalomaniac or just a loyal servant to the late Pa Sheki? You be the judge. My intention here is not to defend him or condemn him but rather to present a comprehensive picture of the man that was popularly known as S I.
The late S.I. Koroma, centre, in white. See also top photo.
One of Sierra Leone’s most vibrant political figures, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma was born in Port Loko, Maforki Chiefdom, Port Loko District in the northern region of Sierra Leone. He was educated at the Government Model Elementary School in Freetown and the Government Secondary School, Bo, in the southern region of Sierra Leone. He went to Bo school at a time when it was an institution exclusively for individuals belonging to ruling families in the provinces. His father, believed to be a Mandingo from Guinea, died when SI was just a little boy. After the death of his father, his mother, Ya Iye Wureh, got married to a man called Bockarie Dumbuya, a nephew of Alikali Mela (who was then Paramount Chief of Port Loko). Alikali Mela made his nephew Bockari Dumbuya a sub chief, conferring him the title “Or Sultan.” Alikali Mela also crowned SI’s mother a chief, giving her the title of “Ya Alimamy.” That was how Sorie Ibrahim Koroma, the only child to his mother, became a member of two important ruling families in Port Loko – the Bangura and Dumbuya families.
It was that connection to the ruling families of Port Loko that made it possible for Sorie Ibrahim Koroma to attend Bo School. Raised in the Dumbuya family compound instead of the Koroma family compound at Sendugu (area occupied by Mandingoes and Sosos in Port Loko), he attended Bo school together with the son of Or Sultan, Mela Dumbuya. Haja Memuna Jah-Dumbuya, wife of the late Chernor Dumbuya - an elder brother of SI - recalled how she used to cook and wash their uniforms while they were on holidays in Port Loko.“He was very kind to me while he was alive. He’ll never come to Port Loko without coming to see me and express his gratitude for what I did for them while they were in school,” Haja Memuna Jah-Dumbuya, now in her late 80s, happily recounted.
After completing their secondary school education, Mela Dumbuya proceeded abroad for further studies while S I Koroma, who had a fierce determination to succeed in life, landed a job with the Sierra Leone Government Co-operative Department. He worked there from 1951 to 1958 and took a course during that period at the Cooperative College, Ibadan, Nigeria. On his return home, he resigned from Government Service to set up his own private business. He fared well in the transportation business and within a short time became Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Motor Transport Union.
Sorie Ibrahim Koroma was a founding member of the All People’s Congress. As a matter fact, he was one of those who laid the foundation for the formation of the APC. The APC started as the Temne Progressive Union (TPU) at the Temne Central Mosque, Old Field Street in Freetown. S. I. together with Kande Bureh, who was Temne Tribal Headman Western Area, Sheik Gibril Sesay, who was Imam of the Temne Central Mosque, Borbor Kamara, Ibrahim Ortole, Alieu Badara Mansaray and many more who became members of the APC - were members of the TPU. The name Temne Progressive Union was later changed to Northern Progressive Union, realizing that many people from the north who spoke Temne actually belonged to other northern tribes: Limba, Loko, Mandingo, Soso and Fulah. Though a key figure in the NPU (that later metamorphosed to APC) Kande Bureh relinquished his position as Temne Tribal Leader to join the SLPP. The NPU was in existence when Siaka Stevens returned from the Independence Conference in London, where he had refused to append his signature to the final Independence document because of the defense arrangements with Britain. He started the Election Before Independence Movement, which was embraced by members of the Northern Progressive Union. With his large Creole following, Stevens transformed what was a purely northern interest group to a national political party. On October 17 1960, at a mass political rally, the APC was born.
This brief background on the formation of the APC also sheds light on why S. A. T. Koroma, a former Minister of Agriculture, refused to write a letter of apology when asked to do so by then Secretary General of the APC E. T. Kamara. An ultimatum was issued to SAT to apologize to the president Dr. Siaka Stevens within 24 hours or else face expulsion from the party. SAT had made some comments in Parliament that amounted to insulting the president when the issue of corruption was broached by the president. SAT Koroma, popularly known as “Ojukwu” because of his rebellious and defiant spirit, bluntly refused making it clear that “we’re the ones that formed the party. We only invited Siaka Stevens to lead us.” SAT was defiant even when the president went to the extent of putting a hold on the building he (SAT) was erecting along Fourah Bay Road. SI Koroma and other members of the party from Port Loko pleaded with him to apologize. But SAT remained firm in his decision not apologize to the Old Man. Instead SAT told SI: “The house is mine. I’ll get it back when the old man dies - for I know he’s going to die before me.” As fate would have it, the Old Man kicked the bucket before SAT. When Ernest Koroma emerged as leader of the APC, SAT gave him his blessing and even allowed the said building at Fourah Bay Road to be temporarily used as the APC headquarters.
At the inception of the All People’s Congress, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma became the party’s first National Propaganda and Organizing Secretary. As the party’s political strategist, he demonstrated untiring effort and energy in educating the people about their political rights, and he succeeded in bringing the party to the people. Founded as a mass party as opposed to the SLPP which was more of an elitist party, the APC won the support of ordinary people because of its grass root politics. The party drew support from drivers, market women, the rural and urban unemployed. It also attracted the support of clerks, teachers and university professors. The modestly educated also found the party attractive because of its leadership that had little beyond a high school education; was largely lower middle class, and was generally inclined toward a vague, though attractive socialism.
In 1962 Sorie Ibrahim Koroma was elected to Parliament as MP for Freetown Central One Constituency. He was returned to parliament for the same constituency in 1967. Following the return to civilian rule in 1968 after the military interregnum of 1967, S I was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources. On the attainment of Republican Status in 1971, he was catapulted to the enviable position of Vice President and Prime Minister. One may wonder why the big leap from Agriculture Minister to Vice President and Prime Minister. Unlike most of the founding members of the APC who resigned to form the National Democratic Party that later became known as the United Democratic Party (UDP), SI remained with the APC and he proved to be most loyal to Siaka Probyn Stevens at a time when his position as prime minister was seriously threatened by the political euphoria brought about by the UDP. Some old members of the APC believe that it was SI who advised Pa Siaka Stevens to declare a state of emergency, ban the UDP and arrest its leaders including Dr. Karefa Smart, Ibrahim Taqui and Dr. Mohamed Forna for inciting riotous conduct and for creating a state of political tension in the counry. That was how the UDP was nipped in the bud. Henceforth, SI became Pa Siaki’s most trusted political lieutenant. Following the declaration of a one party state in 1978, SI became First Vice President - a position he held until he was compelled to retire in 1986.
His exit from politics was one of the strangest and most excruciating scenes in Sierra Leone’s checkered political history. The man who valiantly fought for the survival of the party and served his master so well was denied the mantle of leadership. It all started when SI was out of the country to attend the OAU Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The manipulations and maneuvering to oust him commenced. His supporters, mainly Temne northerners, got wind of what has been planned. They mobilized and converged on Lungi International Airport to give SI the most enthusiastic welcome, sending a loud and clear message that they were 100 percent behind SI Koroma. They were going to enter Freetown in a large convoy of vehicles. But the plan never materialized as a Helicopter was sent by the president to pick SI up from the Airport. Sensing the anger and frustration of the people, SI in his usual soft and quiet voice, placated the people, telling them: “Do not fight for me or die for me so that I’ll become president. It’s not worth it. If it is the wish of Allah that I’ll not be president, so be it. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” The place was as quiet as a graveyard when he uttered those words with humility and equanimity. By the time S I arrived at his VP residence, his security detail had been replaced. He was virtually under house arrest.
Fighting back tears in Parliament, SI spoke of the way he was made a prisoner in his home after his return from the OAU Conference. In Parliament, the constitutional amendment that was the brainchild of Francis Minah was tabled by Alhaji Musa Kabia. As it became crystal clear that the two were determined to prevent him from becoming president, S. I. Koroma warned them that “those who take delight in working for the devil, fan the embers of self-destruction.” As a reward for what he did, Musa Kabia - who all along had been an ordinary MP - was made minister of state in the ministry of finance. Dr. Abdulai Conteh, for objecting to the amendment of the constitution, was stripped of his ministerial position. Other ministers like Sama Banya, very much in sympathy with SI because of that Bo school bond, were demoted.
Siaka Probyn Stevens, a very shrewd politician, realized that bequeathing the mantle to his most trusted lieutenant would have been tantamount to committing political suicide. S I Koroma, seen by many as a Machiavellian politician, will not hesitate to sacrifice Siaka Stevens on the political altar to win the love and support of the people. But most importantly, Stevens was convinced that SI’s succession would have further polarized the country’s politics into South-East (Mende) and North-West (Temne). In the midst of political controversy, generated by the way the constitution was manipulated to sideline S I Koroma, Siaka Probyn Stevens hand-picked Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh as his successor. And SI had to go through the public humiliation of presenting Momoh to the people as the next president of the Republic of Sierra Leone. But he was courageous enough to accept that he was not destined to be president of Sierra Leone. With faith in God, being an ardent Muslim, he returned to his hometown, Port Loko, where he supervised and completed the Rogbere Bana Agricultural project.
Many will remember him as the politician quintessential – pragmatic, charismatic, agile, resourceful, and fair but firm. But others will continue to think of him as a very ruthless politician; the architect of all the violence, thuggery and political foul-play that characterized the APC regime of Siaka Stevens. The party’s survival and longevity hinged largely on him. Had it not been for the political recipe he provided the APC would have died a natural death before April 29 1992 when it was unofficially and automatically terminated by soldiers that have been fighting a bush war against RUF rebels. Even when he was seriously ill, he came to the party’s rescue. When in 1977 the SLPP woke out of its political slumber to regain power, it was S I Koroma that was called from his sick bed in Germany to put a check on the SLPP. A sickly SI landed by helicopter at the Port Loko Football grounds where thousands had converged to welcome him. At the Bai Bureh Memorial Hall where he later addressed enthusiastic supporters, he castigated all those politicians he had assembled to go unopposed from Port Loko District. He made songs against them, telling the people how ungrateful those politicians had been. But in the end, he asked the people to forgive them saying, “bad bush nor dae for troway bad pickin.”
A master planner and political strategist extraordinaire, he appealed to the emotions of the people by first of all talking about the accident he survived, and the excruciating pain he was going through. He said he had to leave his sick bed to come home because the Palm Tree that was brought down years ago had threatened to rise up. “If we sit down and allow that to happen, we’ll be in serious trouble.” To this end he declared: “We in Maforki are known to be APC and we should remain APC.” He then went on to tell the people that from Masiaka Town to all the parts of Port Loko District, “everyone should be seen in red. Anyone with a different color should not step out of his home.” That was how he made it impossible for anyone hoping to stand as a candidate for the SLPP or any other political party. Those who dared to show themselves as belonging to any other party were made to spend time at the Presidential Lodge in Port Loko until after the nominations. They were given a VIP treatment- provided with an array of sumptuous and delicious food and drinks.
When the Labor Congress Crisis of the 80s rocked the hinges of State House and left an ailing second vice president C. A. Kamara-Taylor shaking like a leaf, it was SI (the fire extinguisher, the trouble shooter) that was sent to quell the situation. “Sorie Ibrahim Koroma stood up and spoke when others were hesitant, and was articulate where others stumbled,” according to a member of the top brass of the APC during the Siaka Stevens era. S I was loyal to a fault, noted another staunch supporter of the APC who was hit hard when SI was bypassed for the presidency. In his book “What life has taught me,” the late Siaka Stevens vindicated SI for all the blame leveled against him for the execution of Dr. Mohamed Sorie Forna and fourteen others. S I Koroma’s greatest flaw, according to the late leader of the APC, was his loyalty; his tendency to remain thankful and grateful to all those who had helped him during the difficult days of the party.
“There is one big contribution that S I made in the political history of Sierra Leone that most people don’t know about, and that is - giving us a leader in the person of Ernest Bai Koroma, “says Mohamed Aziz Nabe, a veteran in the APC who was there in Makeni when Ernest Koroma was urged by the late SI to leave his teaching job and go to Freetown. It all began when the young men of the town, fed up with their Member of Parliament who had never had a ministerial appointment, decided to ask Ernest Koroma to contest following the 1977 student demonstration. Against his wish, Ernest Koroma was presented to SI as a candidate for Makeni. Realizing that Ernest Koroma was not interested, SI urged him to listen to the voice of the people, “for the voice of the people is the voice of God.” He told Ernest Koroma that because of the dirty and filthy politics at the time, he wouldn’t want him to join the fray. “I can see in you a leader in the making. Come to Freetown so that you can meet the movers and shakers of the country and prepare yourself for the future.” E B. K. heeded the advice of SI, and today he is the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
People the world over have a tendency of passing a harsh judgment on statesmen and politicians, completely forgetting their achievements. “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is often interred with their bones,’’ so let it be with SI Koroma. That is only natural for a man of his stature. It happened with Africa’s political great: Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Haille Selassie and many more that had traversed the political landscape. But to the countless people whose lives he touched, especially his people at Maforki, his name will continue to linger as “one of Sierra Leone’s most gifted politicians,” a fact that was attested to by the glowing tributes paid to SI after his passing away by people from all walks of life including members of the Sierra Leone Motor Drivers Union and the National Provisional Ruling Council. In recognition of his positive contribution he was given a Civic Burial.
During his hey days, he towered like a colossus, and his name was a household name throughout Sierra Leone. But in the end, in the final analysis he had to succumb to the sovereignty of death like any other mortal. Our emerging leaders in Africa should learn a lesson from the passing away of leaders like S I Koroma, and most recently Ya Ardua of Nigeria. They should learn that leadership, albeit radical, reformist, enlightened, or progressive is but temporary and transitory. Leaders come and go, but the state is permanent. Our current leaders should endeavor to do what is right; work in the interest of the people so that when they pass away, they will be remembered for their positive contributions.
After sixteen years of his passing away, Sorie Ibrahim Koroma is still sadly missed by his family and those who benefited from his political largesse. He will, undoubtedly, continue to occupy a place in the pantheon of heroes of Sierra Leone. If for no other reason, he will be remembered for implementing and popularizing the idea of “Self Reliance” in the task of nation-building. S I Koroma succeeded in mobilizing and galvanizing the energies of the youth for Rural Development in the 70s. The astounding success of his Maforki Self-Help Project brought about the introduction of many more such projects in the country. The Bai Bureh Memorial Hall in Port Loko, named after the hero of the 1898 Hut- Tax War, and the Port Loko Hospital are enduring monuments of his political ingenuity, selflessness and dedication. He has, without doubt, left indelible footprints on the sands of time. Perhaps History will absolve him and have it down on record that “He was a great man!”
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