Ernest Bai Koroma
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| Ernest Bai Koroma | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 17 September 2007 |
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| Vice President | Samuel Sam-Sumana |
| Preceded by | Ahmed Tejan Kabbah |
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| Born | 2 October 1953 Makeni, Bombali District, Sierra Leone |
| Political party | APC |
| Religion | Christian |
Ernest Bai Koroma (born October 2, 1953) is the 4th and current President of Sierra Leone. He was sworn in as president on 17 September 2007, shortly after being declared the winner of a tense run-off election over the incumbent vice-president Solomon Berewa of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) . He is the leader of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) and was APC minority leader in parliament prior to becoming President.
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[edit] Youth and Education
Koroma was born on 2 October 1953, in Makeni, Bombali District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. He is the eldest son of seven children. Koroma was born to a father from the Temne ethnic group and a mother from the Limba ethnic group. Koroma was born of Christian parentage from the predominant Muslim north and a devout Christian himself.
Koroma attended the Sierra Leone Church Primary School in Makeni, and then the Government Secondary School for Boys in Magburaka, Tonkolili District. He attended Fourah Bay College in Freetown, from which he graduated in 1976. After graduating, Koroma taught briefly at the St. Francis Secondary School in Makeni and then joined the Sierra Leone National Insurance Company in 1978. In 1985, he joined the Reliance Insurance Trust Corporation (Ritcorp), and in 1988, he became Managing Director of Ritcorp, remaining in that position for 14 years.[1]
[edit] Political career
Koroma was elected as the leader of the APC on March 24, 2002, at a national convention of the party. He was expected to be one of seven candidates, but five of them were not present for the election, and the remaining candidate appeared only briefly. Unopposed, Koroma received 370 votes from delegates, while 12 delegates voted against him and the remainder abstained.[2]
[edit] 2002 presidential and parliamentary elections
Koroma was the APC presidential candidate in the 2002 general elections, which solidified the APC as the main opposition party. He received 22.3% of the vote as the APC's candidate in the presidential election, losing to incumbent president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), who received about 70%.[3] In the parliamentary election, Koroma was elected to a seat from Bombali District.[4]
Koroma continued as leader of the APC until being stripped of the position by the Supreme Court in June 2005, only to be reinstated in that position in September of that year.[citation needed] The internal party dispute was said to be resolved in April 2007, with Koroma being accepted by APC dissidents as the party's leader ahead of the 2007 election.[5][6]
[edit] Presidency
Koroma was the APC presidential candidate in the August 2007 elections. He was allegedly the target of an assassination attempt in the early hours of July 23, 2007, when, according to the APC, a group of armed men led by Tom Nyuma, who was a participant in the 1992 coup that ousted the APC from power, attempted to enter his hotel room in the country's second largest city of Bo to kill him.[7] Nyuma was severely beaten by Koroma's guards, and he was hospitalized as a result.[8] According to another version of events, however, there was no assassination attempt and the claim was invented to justify the beating of Nyuma.[9]
In the first round of the 2007 presidential election in Sierra Leone, held on August 11, Koroma garnered 44.3% of the votes, ahead of Solomon Berewa of the ruling SLPP, who received 38.3%. This was not enough to win outright,[10] and a run-off election was held on September 8.[11]
In an interview with Reuters on September 13, Koroma said that he wanted to run the country "like a business concern", emphasize agriculture and tourism rather than mining, and fight firmly against corruption.[12]
On September 17, the Sierra Leone National Electoral Commission declared Koroma to be the winner of the election with 54.6% of the vote,[13] although the SLPP disputed the results.[14] He was sworn in later on the same day[15] at a ceremony attended by Berewa and Kabbah.[16]
On September 21, Koroma left Sierra Leone for a diplomatic visit to neighboring Guinea and Liberia, his first trip outside the country as President.[17]
Koroma has taken a notably long time to name his Cabinet ministers, and has done so in stages.[18] The first group of 10 ministers was named on October 8,[19] and another 10 were named on October 12.[20] According to Koroma, he is willing to take additional time to find the right people;[18] others, however, have speculated that the delay is due to maneuvering in the APC for Cabinet positions.[18][19]
Koroma was formally inaugurated in Freetown on November 15, 2007[21] at a ceremony attended by five other African leaders.[22] On this occasion, he promised to fight corruption and emphasized the importance of changing people's attitudes towards corruption.[21][22]
[edit] Personal life
Ernest Bai Koroma is married to Sia Koroma, a biochemist and a native of Kono District. Together they have two children, Alice and Danke Koroma.
[edit] Cabinet
[edit] References
- ^ Mohamed Samura, "Profile: Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone’s new head of state", African Press Agency, October 1, 2007.
- ^ Sierra Leone News Archives, March 2002, sierra-leone.org.
- ^ "SIERRA LEONE: New cabinet announced", IRIN-WA Weekly Roundup 124, 18 - 24 May 2002.
- ^ Sierra Leone News Archives, May 2002, sierra-leone.org.
- ^ Sayoh Kamara, "APC Gets Final Peace in Sierra Leone", Awareness Times, April 5, 2007.
- ^ "Sierra Leone’s main opposition party settles internal dispute", African Press Agency, April 6, 2007.
- ^ Alpha Kanu, "Statement issued by the All People's Congress in Sierra Leone", Awareness Times (news.sl), July 24, 2007.
- ^ James Butty, "Sierra Leone Investigates Alleged Attempted Assassination", VOA News, July 24, 2007.
- ^ Sia Tiyaama, "Prof. Sia Tiyaama Exposes Assassination Hoax Timeline of APC & Standard Times in Sierra Leone", Awareness Times, July 27, 2007.
- ^ "Freetown opposition party wins majority", Reuters (IOL), August 24, 2007.
- ^ "Presidential runoff in Sierra Leone went smoothly, observers say, urging calm as votes counted", Associated Press (International Herald Tribune), September 9, 2007.
- ^ Katrina Manson, "SLeone leader vows to fight corruption", Reuters (IOL), September 14, 2007.
- ^ Rod MacJohnson, "Sierra Leone gets a new leader", AFP (The Times, South Africa), September 17, 2007.
- ^ "S Leone run-off results questioned", Al Jazeera, September 16, 2007.
- ^ Katrina Manson and Christo Johnson, "Koroma pledges healing in Sierra Leone", Reuters (IOL), September 18, 2007.
- ^ "Sierra Leone's new leader sworn in", Al Jazeera, September 18, 2007.
- ^ Saliou Samb, "New leader seeks deeper regional ties", Reuters (IOL), September 21, 2007.
- ^ a b c "Sierra Leonean leader’s piecemeal cabinet appointments", African Press Agency, October 16, 2007.
- ^ a b "New Sierra Leonean leader appoints first cabinet", African Press Agency, October 9, 2007.
- ^ "Sierra Leone: Ten more new cabinet appointments made", African Press Agency, October 13, 2007.
- ^ a b "Sierra Leone's New President Inaugurated", VOA News, November 15, 2007.
- ^ a b "SL leader pledges graft crackdown", BBC News, November 15, 2007.
[edit] See also
- Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.
[edit] External links
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