By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Three former African heads of state, including Ernest Bai Koroma, have confirmed their attendance at the impending launch of the Ahmad Tejan Kabba Foundation, the organizers have said.
Former Liberian leader and Africa’s first female President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo have both confirmed their names on the guest list of the event slated for this weekend.
The event is scheduled for Sunday, June 15 at the Bitumani International Conference Center in Freetown.
President Julius Maada Bio has also been confirmed to officially launch the Foundation.
The Ahmad Tejan Kabba Foundation is being established in honor of the former Sierra Leonean leader who presided over the country from 1996 to 2007 as the first democratically elected president. Kabba inherited Sierra Leone when it was in war and handed it over after securing peace.
He died on March 13, 2014.
Isata Jabbie-Kabba, the widow of the later former president and the Foundation’s Chief Executive, said it will focus on promoting unity, tolerance, democracy and a host of other values the former president stood for.
“Specifically, President Obsanjo will be here on the 15th and Madam Sirleaf will also be here. Their respective embassies in the country have written to us to confirm this. They will be here to join President Maada Bio to launch the foundation,” Mrs Kabba told Politico.
She added that President Koroma has also personally consented to attend, alongside his wife, former First Lady Sia Nyama Koroma.
“We had written a letter before now to inform him. So yesterday (Tuesday) we travelled to Makeni to officially deliver his invitation alongside his wife’s. He has confirmed to attend. They received us very well and former President Koroma even said he will support the Foundation with whatever he can, because Pa Kabba’s legacy is worth emulating,” Mrs Kabba said.
Ernest Bai Koroma succeeded Tejan Kabba after the former’s All People’s Congress won the hotly contested 2007 general elections, ending eleven years of the Sierra Leone People’s Party rule. Kabba’s name wasn’t on the ballot as he had served his two constitutionally mandated terms.
That election marked the first peaceful transfer of power from one civilian government to another in the country, a landmark achievement the late leader has been credited for.
This is the first time a Foundation will be launched for any former Sierra Leonean President.
Besides being the architect of the peace talks that ended the country’s eleven years brutal civil war, Kabba is also credited for laying the building blocks of sustaining that peace and promoting democracy through his establishment of some of the most important state institutions today.
Mrs Kabba said even before the former President’s passing, he was always hoping to establish such a Foundation to promote peace and democracy at home and abroad.
“You know his legacy is centered around peace and democracy. So he wanted to create a Foundation like the Carter Foundation, so tshat it will preach the message of peace and keep Sierra Leoneans together,” she said.
According to Mrs Kabba, the Foundation was established with collaboration among friends, family members and some of the former officials who served in the late former president’s administration.
The establishment of the foundation comes at a time when Sierra Leone is deeply divided along ethnic, regional and political lines. The heightened tension has fueled growing concerns of instability.
To deal with this, Mrs Kabba said the Foundation plans, as one of its first actions, to embark on a nationwide campaign to preach and unify Sierra Leoneans.
She explained that the Foundation is broad based.
“Firstly, we will uphold the late man’s legacy of peace, democracy, tolerance and national cohesion. These are what he was known for. So this is going to be part of the work we will be doing. We will also engage in other programs like agriculture, empowerment of women, and girl child education,” she said.
“The immediate project that we will focus on is the message of peace. Sierra Leoneans, we are very quick to forget. So we want to do community outreach, we want to do sensitization. We will remind people that the only option for development and our co-existence is peace,” she said.
© 2019 Politico Online
