ELLA KOBLO GULAMA
(1921-)
PARAMOUNT CHIEF AND NATIONAL POLITICIAN
number was small, the few that ventured into politics became very prominent. One such notable woman has been Ex-Paramount Chief Madam Ella Koblo Gulama.
Madam Ella, as she is fondly called, succeeded her late illustrious father, Julius Gulama, as Paramount Chief of Kaiyamba Chiefdom, Moyamba District, in 1953. Thereafter, she became actively involved in national politics with the support and encouragement of Sir Milton Margai and Sir Albert Margai. She became a member of the Moyamba District Council and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1957 — the first ever woman member of that august body. She was re-elected to parliament in May, 1962 and appointed the first woman cabinet minister.
She became a close ally of both Sir Milton and Sir Albert. But it was essentially during the brief period of Sir Albert's premiership that she gained a reputation as one of the most powerful members of the government.
This pioneer of women's liberation in modern Sierra Leone politics went into temporary political limbo after Sir Albert's fall from power, before bouncing back as an APC stalwart and leader of the Moyamba District APC Women's Organisation in the early 1970s.
Born in 1921 at Moyamba, Ella was educated at the Harford School for Girls, and the Women Teacher's College, then at Wilberforce. Although she ruled a predominantly Mende chiefdom, Ella Koblo married a powerful Temne paramount chief from the north of Sierra Leone, Ex-Paramount Chief Bai Koblo Pathbana, in 1946. This association may have contributed to the process of national integration.
All who get to know Madam Ella Koblo Gulama for even a brief period are fascinated by her charm, engaging presence and public spiritedness. She is undoubtedly one of the most colourful and resourceful women national figures who have contributed to the political development of Sierra Leone.
MOHAMMAD SANUSI MUSTAPHA
(1903-)
DEDICATED MUSLIM, BUSINESSMAN,AND POLITICAL LEADER
Alhaji Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha has made lasting contributions in the fields of Islam, education, commerce, and politics. And,
indeed, he stands in a long and proud tradition of Islamic leadership in Sierra Leone stretching back to the early history of this country.
M.S. Mustapha was born in the Oku community of Fula Town in the east end of Freetown, and has maintained a life-long attachment to that historic area. His parental grandfather, Alpha Abubakar Bilal, was the first Freetown merchant to start trading up the Scarcies River in the last century. His maternal grandfather, Sheikh Ibrahim Njai, was a Wolof from Senegal who was a noted Islamic teacher and writer in Kambia at the time of Foday Tarawaly's great Islamic University there.
As a child, Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha was a gifted student, and was at one point head prefect at the Prince of Wales School. He went on the read law at Lincoln's Inn. M.S. Mustapha spent the early years of his career in the civil service, while growing more and more active in public affairs. In 1935, he was Honorary Secretary of the East Ward Rate Payers Association, one of the major pressure groups in the colonial politics of the time. During that period, he was also Assistant Secretary of the National Congress of British West Africa. In 1951, he was elected to both the Legislative Council for Freetown and the Executive Council, and from there his rise was rapid. M.S. Mustapha was one of the founders of the Sierra Leone People's Party (S.L.P.P.), and was among the first Sierra Leoneans to be appointed to cabinet rank in 1953. He was a member of the delegation for constitutional talks in London which ushered in Sierra Leone's independence in 1961. Between 1953 and 1964, Alhaji Mustapha held several cabinet portfolios, including Finance, Works and Transport, and Trade and Industry. He continued to serve in parliament into the 1980s, on one occasion serving as Acting Vice-President II, and is still a member of the Governing Council and Central Committee of the A.P.C.
But quite aside from his brilliant political career, Alhaji Mustapha has also been a dynamic leader in the field of business. At a time when educated Sierra Leoneans avoided business as something beneath their social station, he launched himself with vigour into the world of commerce. In 1946, he helped to establish Mustapha Brothers and Company, Importers and Exporters, a thriving business venture. Alhaji Mustapha was the first Sierra Leonean to do local rice milling. He became a licensed buying agent for the Produce Marketing Board in 1950, and was President of the Association for Buying Agencts for the S.L.P.M.B. in 1967. His commercial success is an invaluable example at a time of great need for diverse forms of indigenous private enterprise in this country.
Along the way, Alhaji Mustapha has also made important contributions to the Islamic community and to the field of education. He has been a Muslim leader in the Fulah Town area for half a century and a force in the Sierra Leone Muslim Congress for over forty years, and he was instrumental in 1958 in launching the Sierra Leone Muslim Congress Secondary School at Kissy. When the British colonial authorities wanted at one point to reduce Fourah Bay College to the status of a technical college, Alhaji Mustapha helped organise the "Save Fourah Bay College Committee" and, as Joint Secretary, toured the then protectorate whipping up support. In 1987, the University of Sierra Leone awarded Alhaji Mustapha the degree of Doctor of Civil Laws in recognition of his many contributions to Sierra Leone's advancement.
For many years, Alhaji Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha has been known fondly as "Akpata," from the Yoruba expression akpata kin gberu ojo, meaning watasay ston noh de fred ren. And, indeed, Alhaji Mustapha, like the watasay ston, has persevered and endured in many trying and challenging circumstances — much to the betterment of his fellow countrymen.
Alhaji Amadu Wurie was one of Sierra Leone's foremost educators in the 20th century. An active politician, he was appointed
Minister of Education in the first post-independence Sierra Leone government.
He was born in Gbinti on the estuary of the Melacourie River. His father, Paramount Chief Bai Sheka Bundu, was one of the principal supporters of Bai Bureh during the 1898 uprising against the British.
Amadu Wurie was a foundation pupil of the Bo School in the Southern Province, established in 1906 to cater for the education of sons and nominees of chiefs. In 1916, he was among the first pupils of that school to succeed to the Civil Service Entrance Examination. He was appointed an Assistant Master at the school in 1916, subsequently rising to the rank of Senior Assistant Master in 1925. In 1927 he suggested the formation of the Old Bo Boys' Association (O.B.B.A.), serving first as general secretary and later as president of this organisation which was the inspiration for many other old boys' clubs in the country. On several occasions between 1933 and 1935 Amadu Wurie served as Acting Principal of the school, the first African to fulfill such a role.
From Bo, he moved on to Koyeima School, Bo District, where he served as headmaster from 1935 to 1942. In the latter year, he became Education Officer, a post he held until 1952 when he was appointed the first principal of the Kenema Secondary School. In 1953, he was appointed a member of the Port Loko District Council and Chairman of the Port Loko Education Authority. In 1955, he was appointed Provincial Education Secretary, Northern Province. Six years later, he became a member of the Mine Workers' Wages Board.
By 1961, when Sierra Leone became independent, Amadu Wurie had served in most of the districts in the country.. His connection with the country's leading political figures dated from his Bo School days. As early as the late 1940s, he had become an active member of the Protectorate Educational Progressive Union (P.E.P.U.), which then comprised most of the protectorate elite. In 1962, he entered parliament under the Sierra Leone People's Party (S.L.P.P.) banner and was appointed Minister of Education in recognition of his life-long devotion to teaching. After the cabinet crisis following Albert Margai's appointment as prime minister in 1964, Amadu Wurie was one of the few prominent northern ministers loyal to the new head of government. He later served as Minister of the Interior.. In 1964 he was awarded the C.B.E. (Companion of the British Empire) for his significant contribution to the educational progress of the country.
After the 1967 general election, in which he lost his seat, Amadu Wurie retired into private life at Mahera, near Lungi, in the Port Loko District. During this period, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. In January 1973, the University of Sierra Leone conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws.
Besides politics, Amadu Wurie also took a lively interest in the history of the country, especially that of his Fula ancestors, the Bunduka, in whose territory he collected many oral traditions. These were published in the Journal, Sierra Leone Studies. While in retirement, he co-authored (with Elizabeth Hirst) a biography of his grandfather, Alimamy Rassin, which was published in 1968.
He died on June 13, 1977.
Credits:
Muctaru R. A. Kabba - Editorial Consultant
Professor C. Magbaily Fyle - Historical Consultant
Joseph Opala - Historical Consultant and Adviser on Historical Drawings
Vera Viditz-Ward - Consultant on Historical Photographs
Josef Marker & Munir D. Mohamed - Drawings
(1921-)
PARAMOUNT CHIEF AND NATIONAL POLITICIAN
number was small, the few that ventured into politics became very prominent. One such notable woman has been Ex-Paramount Chief Madam Ella Koblo Gulama.Madam Ella, as she is fondly called, succeeded her late illustrious father, Julius Gulama, as Paramount Chief of Kaiyamba Chiefdom, Moyamba District, in 1953. Thereafter, she became actively involved in national politics with the support and encouragement of Sir Milton Margai and Sir Albert Margai. She became a member of the Moyamba District Council and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1957 — the first ever woman member of that august body. She was re-elected to parliament in May, 1962 and appointed the first woman cabinet minister.
She became a close ally of both Sir Milton and Sir Albert. But it was essentially during the brief period of Sir Albert's premiership that she gained a reputation as one of the most powerful members of the government.
This pioneer of women's liberation in modern Sierra Leone politics went into temporary political limbo after Sir Albert's fall from power, before bouncing back as an APC stalwart and leader of the Moyamba District APC Women's Organisation in the early 1970s.
Born in 1921 at Moyamba, Ella was educated at the Harford School for Girls, and the Women Teacher's College, then at Wilberforce. Although she ruled a predominantly Mende chiefdom, Ella Koblo married a powerful Temne paramount chief from the north of Sierra Leone, Ex-Paramount Chief Bai Koblo Pathbana, in 1946. This association may have contributed to the process of national integration.
All who get to know Madam Ella Koblo Gulama for even a brief period are fascinated by her charm, engaging presence and public spiritedness. She is undoubtedly one of the most colourful and resourceful women national figures who have contributed to the political development of Sierra Leone.
MOHAMMAD SANUSI MUSTAPHA
(1903-)
DEDICATED MUSLIM, BUSINESSMAN,AND POLITICAL LEADER
Alhaji Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha has made lasting contributions in the fields of Islam, education, commerce, and politics. And,
indeed, he stands in a long and proud tradition of Islamic leadership in Sierra Leone stretching back to the early history of this country.M.S. Mustapha was born in the Oku community of Fula Town in the east end of Freetown, and has maintained a life-long attachment to that historic area. His parental grandfather, Alpha Abubakar Bilal, was the first Freetown merchant to start trading up the Scarcies River in the last century. His maternal grandfather, Sheikh Ibrahim Njai, was a Wolof from Senegal who was a noted Islamic teacher and writer in Kambia at the time of Foday Tarawaly's great Islamic University there.
As a child, Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha was a gifted student, and was at one point head prefect at the Prince of Wales School. He went on the read law at Lincoln's Inn. M.S. Mustapha spent the early years of his career in the civil service, while growing more and more active in public affairs. In 1935, he was Honorary Secretary of the East Ward Rate Payers Association, one of the major pressure groups in the colonial politics of the time. During that period, he was also Assistant Secretary of the National Congress of British West Africa. In 1951, he was elected to both the Legislative Council for Freetown and the Executive Council, and from there his rise was rapid. M.S. Mustapha was one of the founders of the Sierra Leone People's Party (S.L.P.P.), and was among the first Sierra Leoneans to be appointed to cabinet rank in 1953. He was a member of the delegation for constitutional talks in London which ushered in Sierra Leone's independence in 1961. Between 1953 and 1964, Alhaji Mustapha held several cabinet portfolios, including Finance, Works and Transport, and Trade and Industry. He continued to serve in parliament into the 1980s, on one occasion serving as Acting Vice-President II, and is still a member of the Governing Council and Central Committee of the A.P.C.
But quite aside from his brilliant political career, Alhaji Mustapha has also been a dynamic leader in the field of business. At a time when educated Sierra Leoneans avoided business as something beneath their social station, he launched himself with vigour into the world of commerce. In 1946, he helped to establish Mustapha Brothers and Company, Importers and Exporters, a thriving business venture. Alhaji Mustapha was the first Sierra Leonean to do local rice milling. He became a licensed buying agent for the Produce Marketing Board in 1950, and was President of the Association for Buying Agencts for the S.L.P.M.B. in 1967. His commercial success is an invaluable example at a time of great need for diverse forms of indigenous private enterprise in this country.
Along the way, Alhaji Mustapha has also made important contributions to the Islamic community and to the field of education. He has been a Muslim leader in the Fulah Town area for half a century and a force in the Sierra Leone Muslim Congress for over forty years, and he was instrumental in 1958 in launching the Sierra Leone Muslim Congress Secondary School at Kissy. When the British colonial authorities wanted at one point to reduce Fourah Bay College to the status of a technical college, Alhaji Mustapha helped organise the "Save Fourah Bay College Committee" and, as Joint Secretary, toured the then protectorate whipping up support. In 1987, the University of Sierra Leone awarded Alhaji Mustapha the degree of Doctor of Civil Laws in recognition of his many contributions to Sierra Leone's advancement.
For many years, Alhaji Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha has been known fondly as "Akpata," from the Yoruba expression akpata kin gberu ojo, meaning watasay ston noh de fred ren. And, indeed, Alhaji Mustapha, like the watasay ston, has persevered and endured in many trying and challenging circumstances — much to the betterment of his fellow countrymen.
Alhaji Amadu Wurie was one of Sierra Leone's foremost educators in the 20th century. An active politician, he was appointed
Minister of Education in the first post-independence Sierra Leone government.He was born in Gbinti on the estuary of the Melacourie River. His father, Paramount Chief Bai Sheka Bundu, was one of the principal supporters of Bai Bureh during the 1898 uprising against the British.
Amadu Wurie was a foundation pupil of the Bo School in the Southern Province, established in 1906 to cater for the education of sons and nominees of chiefs. In 1916, he was among the first pupils of that school to succeed to the Civil Service Entrance Examination. He was appointed an Assistant Master at the school in 1916, subsequently rising to the rank of Senior Assistant Master in 1925. In 1927 he suggested the formation of the Old Bo Boys' Association (O.B.B.A.), serving first as general secretary and later as president of this organisation which was the inspiration for many other old boys' clubs in the country. On several occasions between 1933 and 1935 Amadu Wurie served as Acting Principal of the school, the first African to fulfill such a role.
From Bo, he moved on to Koyeima School, Bo District, where he served as headmaster from 1935 to 1942. In the latter year, he became Education Officer, a post he held until 1952 when he was appointed the first principal of the Kenema Secondary School. In 1953, he was appointed a member of the Port Loko District Council and Chairman of the Port Loko Education Authority. In 1955, he was appointed Provincial Education Secretary, Northern Province. Six years later, he became a member of the Mine Workers' Wages Board.
By 1961, when Sierra Leone became independent, Amadu Wurie had served in most of the districts in the country.. His connection with the country's leading political figures dated from his Bo School days. As early as the late 1940s, he had become an active member of the Protectorate Educational Progressive Union (P.E.P.U.), which then comprised most of the protectorate elite. In 1962, he entered parliament under the Sierra Leone People's Party (S.L.P.P.) banner and was appointed Minister of Education in recognition of his life-long devotion to teaching. After the cabinet crisis following Albert Margai's appointment as prime minister in 1964, Amadu Wurie was one of the few prominent northern ministers loyal to the new head of government. He later served as Minister of the Interior.. In 1964 he was awarded the C.B.E. (Companion of the British Empire) for his significant contribution to the educational progress of the country.
After the 1967 general election, in which he lost his seat, Amadu Wurie retired into private life at Mahera, near Lungi, in the Port Loko District. During this period, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. In January 1973, the University of Sierra Leone conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Laws.
Besides politics, Amadu Wurie also took a lively interest in the history of the country, especially that of his Fula ancestors, the Bunduka, in whose territory he collected many oral traditions. These were published in the Journal, Sierra Leone Studies. While in retirement, he co-authored (with Elizabeth Hirst) a biography of his grandfather, Alimamy Rassin, which was published in 1968.
He died on June 13, 1977.
Credits:
Muctaru R. A. Kabba - Editorial Consultant
Professor C. Magbaily Fyle - Historical Consultant
Joseph Opala - Historical Consultant and Adviser on Historical Drawings
Vera Viditz-Ward - Consultant on Historical Photographs
Josef Marker & Munir D. Mohamed - Drawings