Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
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Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
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Personal Information
Born Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, on February 16, 1932, in Pendembu, Kailahun District, Eastern Province, Sierra Leone; married; wife's name, Patricia Tucker. Politics: Sierra Leone People's Party. Religion: Muslim.
Education: Received degree from University College of Wales.
Politics: Sierra Leone People's Party.
Religion: Muslim.
Career
Called to the Bar (Gray's Inn), London; district commander for Moyamba, Kono, Bombali and Kambia Districts in Sierra Leone; Ministry of Social Welfare, Freetown, Sierra Leone, deputy secretary; Ministry of Education, Freetown, permanent secretary; Ministry of Trade and Industry, Freetown, permanent secretary; joined staff of United Nations; served as UNDP representative in Lesotho, 1973, Tanzania and Uganda, 1976, and Zimbabwe, 1980; appointed head of Eastern and Southern Africa Division in the United Nations, 1979; served as deputy personnel director and director of the Division of Administration and Management, 1981. Elected president of Sierra Leone, March, 1996, and March, 1998; serves as minister of defense of Sierra Leone.
Life's Work
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah returned home to his native Sierra Leone to retire after a career with the United Nations as an economist, but was drafted into the country's movement toward a multiparty democracy during the mid-1990s. In 1996, he was elected president in Sierra Leone's first free elections since its independence. However, the ongoing civil strife that had plagued Sierra Leone in recent times did not end. After a 1997 coup, Kabbah was forced to flee the country for several months, but returned to its capital, Freetown, in 1998 to great fanfare. Many Sierra Leoneans place great store in Kabbah as the symbol for achieving a peaceful and prosperous future.
Sierra Leone is a strife-torn, but mineral-rich West African nation with an area of 28,000 square miles and a population of five million people. In 1999, it was estimated that almost half that number had been forced to flee to neighboring countries as a result of the civil war. Nearly all citizens are from one of thirteen tribes, with Temne and Mende the largest of them. The African captives on board the Amistad slave ship, who mutinied and attempted to return to Africa in the 1840s, but instead were tricked into U.S. waters and arrested, hailed from Sierra Leone.
Years of Unrest
Sierra Leone eventually became a colony for freed slaves under British protection, and the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) became the dominant political party in the 1950s. The country achieved its independence in 1961. The dawn of independence also launched the start of 17 years of unrest, and Sierra Leone was declared a one-party state in 1978. General Joseph Momoh became president in 1985, and a movement to create a multi-party democracy gained momentum. A constitution was ratified in 1991 and elections scheduled, but a coup in April of 1992 led to a reinstatement of military rule. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, led by Foday Sankoh, were instrumental in this event.
Kabbah was born in 1932 in the Kailahun District. He attended St. Edward's School in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, then traveled to Great Britain for further education. After earning his degree from the University College of Wales, he was admitted to the Bar of Gray's Inn in London. Returning to his homeland, Kabbah served as commander for several districts in Sierra Leone before joining the country's Ministry of Social Welfare as a deputy secretary. From there, he served as permanent secretary in the ministries of education and of trade and industry. In the early 1970s, Kabbah was hired by the United Nations and served as a developmental economist for a number of years.
The Prodigal President
After two decades with the United Nations, Kabbah retired and returned to Sierra Leone. He had been a member of the SLPP since 1954, and his long and distinguished career made him an attractive candidate for president. As Kabbah told reporter Angella Johnson from the Johannesburg, South Africa daily the Mail & Guardian about this second career, "I don't regret it [becoming president] because I believed at the time that I had contributed to peace and stability in my country in the very short time that I was there," Kabbah said. "I now feel that I have a moral duty to my people because maybe they were looking for someone like me to begin the process of economic development."
As the SLPP candidate, Kabbah was declared the victor in the country's first multi-party elections in March of 1996. He refused to accept his salary, and did not even live in the presidential mansion, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Instead he remained in his own home, and lived on his United Nations pension. Restoring order to the country after several years of civil strife was his first duty as president. In November of 1996 he signed the Abidjan (Nigeria) Accord, which was also signed by rebel leader Sankoh. However, as Cameron Duodu explained in the Mail & Guardian, Kabbah "did not want to implement the agreement. The reason is that the RUF's brand of terrorism--amputating the limbs of villagers to coerce them into supporting it-- horrified a lot of the middle-class people on whom Kabbah depended for support."
Fled After Bloody Coup
There were also problems within the Sierra Leonean army, many of whom were supporters of the RUF. Many government soldiers welcomed RUF forces into Freetown when a coup ousted Kabbah from office in May of 1997. Another group, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), was also instrumental in this military action. The rebels seized the diamond-mine regions of Sierra Leone after driving a Mercedes car into the gates of the country's largest prison and freeing the inmates, many of whom were political detainees. Kabbah, a Muslim, was about to leave the house for morning prayers at the mosque that day in May, but fortunately kept in touch with the military through a special radio. He quickly learned that the rebels had seized control of the government, and was flown to safety in neighboring Guinea.
Executive Outcomes, a private security company that took much of credit for the stability in Sierra Leone before the coup, had warned Kabbah of the potential for such an insurgency. They asked for a large sum of money for a protection deal, which "would have provided Kabbah and his most senior Cabinet members with a paramilitary anti-riot force of about 500 men and a two-man intelligence unit (staffed by South Africans) who would have been based at military headquarters to give early warning of any coup plots," explained Mail & Guardian journalists Khareen Pech and Yusuf Hassan.
Help from Nigeria
Kabbah instead chose another alternative: protection by a West African peacekeeping force called ECOMOG (Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group). Its parent organization, ECOWAS (West African Economic Community), is a 16-nation consortium of West African nations. As African Business's Dexter Jerome Smith remarked, Kabbah's decision was a difficult but timely one, for it hailed "a significant if somewhat surprising turn of events on the African continent: Africans sorting out African problems; the region policing itself rather than being policed from outside."
In October of 1997, the AFRC and RUF finally agreed to leave and to return rightful power to Kabbah. However, the mood within Sierra Leone remained tense. A spokesperson for the rebel government, Lt. Col. Gibril Massaquri, said only that same month that Kabbah was "a criminal... You do not understand," the Christian Science Monitor quoted Massaquri as stating. "Kabbah is irrelevant. We will kill him if he comes back. I hate him. The people hate him." The citizens of Sierra Leone realized that they had few alternatives. "Unless Kabbah comes back, there will be no peace," a Freetown resident told reporter Carl A. Prine of the Christian Science Monitor. Economic sanctions had brought hardship to Sierra Leoneans, and basic necessities were becoming increasingly scarce. Electricity and telephone services had been shut down while the AFRC/RUF junta remained in power.
A New Era
Neighboring Nigeria footed much of the bill for the military action in Sierra Leone that finally ousted the AFRC and RUF from power. Kabbah endured criticism that he was becoming a tool of a foreign power, a leader who was under the thumb of Nigerian head of state General Sani Abacha. Kabbah returned to Sierra Leone in March of 1998, followed by an official announcement from United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan heralding the event as a positive step for the future of Sierra Leone and the stability of West Africa. "In Freetown, throngs of people lined the route of Kabbah's motorcade, wearing traditional tribal costumes, banging drums and singing songs written for the occasion," reported CNN. "Residents cleaned up the streets, and flags, streamers and banners decorated the city."
Only one month prior to Kabbah's return, retreating AFRC and RUF forces had laid waste to Freetown, setting fire to buildings and automobiles. In the countryside, they waged a campaign against the return of the elected government that was code-named "No Living Thing." As New York Times reporter Barbara Crossette explained, "some victims have been turned into messengers of death, disfigured then sent away bearing letters warning President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the African peacekeeping troops who restored him to office in March that armed resistance, led by remnants of a former military junta, will continue and that no one is safe."
Forgiveness and Future Hopes
Meanwhile, Sankoh had been captured by ECOMOG, and there was talk that the rebel leader would become Kabbah's deputy in an attempt to forge a new, pluralistic era for the country. Sankoh was returned to Sierra Leone, where he spoke out against the atrocities committed by the rebels. However, the peace accord fell apart when the AFRC and RUF objected to demands that they disarm. In mid-1998, Sierra Leoneans who collaborated with the AFRC/RUF forces were tried for treason. Later that year, Kabbah heeded warnings from his military advisers and ordered the execution of 24 collaborators.
Early in 1999, Kabbah asked the United Nations to help forge a peace agreement between his government and the AFRC/RUF. Weeks of negotiation resulted in another peace accord, signed by both Kabbah and Sankoh, in July of 1999. The agreement granted amnesty to many of the rebels, and offered a power-sharing role for the RUF, giving them four posts in the cabinet. Sankoh was made the equivalent of vice president and head of a task force on national reconstruction. "Both leaders furiously studied their documents until just moments before the signing as they sat next to one another on a raised stage," reported the New York Times about the ceremony in Lome, Togo. At Kabbah's side was a young girl whose arm had been amputated during the civil war. "I shall sign it as president of Sierra Leone, but more importantly I shall sign it for the thousands of children of Sierra Leone," the president was reported as saying by the New York Times.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- African Business, April 1998.
- Christian Science Monitor, October 31, 1997.
- Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg, South Africa), May 30, 1997; November 7, 1997; January 15, 1999.
- New African, April 1998; July 1998; March 1999.
- New York Times, July 30, 1998, p. A1; July 7, 1999; July 8, 1999.
- Sydney Morning Herald, January 8, 1999.
- UN Chronicle, Summer 1998, p. 57.
- Additional information for this profile was provided by a Cable News Network (CNN) report dated March 10, 1998, at http://www.cnn.com.
— Carol Brennan
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Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
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Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
| Ahmad Tejan Kabbah | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 3rd President of Sierra Leone | |
| In office March 29, 1996 - May 25, 1997 March 10, 1998 – September 17, 2007 |
|
| Vice President | Solomon Berewa |
| Preceded by | Julius Maada Bio |
| Succeeded by | Ernest Bai Koroma |
| Leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) | |
| In office 1996 – September 4, 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Salia Jusu-Sheriff |
| Succeeded by | Solomon Berewa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 16, 1932 Pendembu, Kailahun District, Sierra Leone |
| Nationality | Sierra Leonean |
| Political party | Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Kabbah (deceased)
Isata Jabbie Kabbah (2008 present) [1] |
| Children | Five children:
Mariama Kabbah, Tejan Kabbah Jr (deceased), Abubacar Kabbah, Isata Kabbah and Michael Kabbah |
| Residence | Goderich, Western Area, Sierra Leone |
| Alma mater | Aberystwyth University (Aberystwyth, Wales) |
| Profession | Economist, Attorney |
| Religion | Islam |
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (born February 16, 1932) served as President of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007.
He worked for the United Nations Development Programme and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992. He was elected president in 1996 Sierra Leone presidential election with 59% of the vote defeating his closest rival John Karefa-Smart of the United National People's Party (UNPP) who had 40%. Kabbah is the first and to date, the onlyMuslim head of state of Sierra Leone. He is also the first and to date, the only Sierra Leonean head of state from the Mandingo ethnic group.
Most of Kabbah's time in office was influenced by the civil war with the Revolutionary United Front, led by Foday Sankoh, which involved him being temporarily ousted by the military Armed Forces Revolutionary Council from May 1997 to March 1998. He was soon returned to power after a military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), lead by Nigeria. Another phase of the civil war led to United Nations and British involvement in the country in 2000. The civil war was officially declared over in early 2002 by Kabbah, and he went on to win yet another term in office in the presidential election later that year with 70.1% of the vote, defeating his closest rival Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC), who won only 19% of the vote.
Kabbah had served as an assistant district commissioner in the colonial administration, and later in senior civil service posts in several ministries. In 1968, he studied law in the United Kingdom and then took up a post at the United Nations as deputy chief of the West Africa Division. When he retired from the United Nations in the early 1990s, he was director of the Division of Administration and Management.
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Contents
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Background
Youth and education
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was born on February 16, 1932 in the rural town of Pendembu, Kailahun District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. He is an ethnic Mandingo and a devout Muslim. Kabbah is a fluent speaker of his native Mandingo language. Kabbah's father, was a devout Muslim and a member of the Mandingo ethnic group of Guinean descent. His mother was also a Muslim and a member of the Mende ethnic group from the Coomber family, a Chieftaincy ruling house based in the small rural town of Mobai, Kailahun District. Kabbah's first name Ahmad means "highly praised" or "one who constantly thanks God" in the Arabic language.
Though a muslim, Kabbah received his secondary education at the St. Edward's secondary school in Freetown, the oldest catholic secondary school in Sierra Leone. He also married a Catholic, the late Patricia Kabbah, (born Patricia Tucker), who was an ethnic Sherbro from Bonthe District in Southern Sierra Leone. Together the couple had five children. Kabbah received his higher education at the Cardiff College of Technology and Commerce, and University College Aberystwyth, Wales, in the United Kingdom, with a Bachelor's degree in Economics in 1959. He later studied law, and in 1969 he became a practicing Barrister-at-Law, member of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, London.
Career
He was the chairman of the national advisory board to advise Capt Valentine Strasser.he later rewrite the constitution changing the age limit so Capt valentine Strasser will not contest the election under NUP political party.he was also member of SLPMB{Sierra Leone producing Marketing Board} that shot down because he embezzle the money and was banned from holding any political office in Sierra leone.He also killed lots of his people by sending ECOMOG to intervene and restore him to power.Late major General Joseph Saidu momoh was a General,he was in the capacity to counter the coup by Capt Strasser,but for lives and peace he ignore the help from the international community to restore him.Tejan kabbah should have done the same but choose to kill his own people he represents.and also he is the first president of Sierra leone to kill a woman.the late major Kula Samba.
Kabbah has spent nearly his entire career in the public sector. He served in the Western Area and in all the Provinces of Sierra Leone. He was a District Commissioner in Bombali and Kambia (Northern Province), in Kono (Eastern Province) and in Moyamba and Bo (Southern Province). He later became Permanent Secretary in various Ministries, including Trade and Industry, Social Welfare, and Education.
United Nations
He was an international civil servant for almost two decades. After serving as deputy Chief of the West Africa Division of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in New York, he was reassigned in 1973 to head the Programme's operation in the Kingdom of Lesotho, as Resident Representative. He also headed UNDP operations in Tanzania and Uganda, and just before Zimbabwe's independence, he was temporarily assigned to that country to help lay the groundwork for cooperation with the United Nations system.
After a successful tour of duty in Eastern and Southern Africa, Kabbah returned to New York to head UNDP's Eastern and Southern Africa Division. Among other things, he was directly responsible for coordinating UN system assistance to liberation movements recognized by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), such as the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, and the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) of Namibia.
Before his retirement in 1992, Kabbah held a number of senior administrative positions at UNDP Headquarters in New York, including those of Deputy Director and Director of Personnel, and Director, Division of Administration and Management.
Political career in Sierra Leone
After the military coup in 1992, he was asked to chair the National Advisory Council, one of the mechanisms set up by the military to alleviate the restoration of constitutional rule, including the drafting of a new constitution for Sierra Leone. He reputedly intended his return to Sierra Leone to be a retirement, but was encouraged by those around him and the political situation that arose to become more actively involved in the politics of Sierra Leone.
First term as President
| Sierra Leone Civil War |
|---|
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| Personalities |
| Armed Forces |
| Attempts at Peace |
| Political Groups |
| Ethnic Groups |
| See also |
Kabbah was seen as a compromise candidate when he was put forward by the Mende-dominated Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) as their presidential hopeful in 1996 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the first multi-party elections in twenty-three years. The SLPP won the legislative vote overwhelmingly in the South and Eastern Province of the country, they split the vote with the UNPP in the Western Area and they lost in the Northern Province. On March 29, 1996, Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was sworn in as President of Sierra Leone. Guided by his philosophy of "political inclusion" he appointed the most broad-based government in the nation's history, drawing from all political parties represented in Parliament, and ‘technocrats’ in civil society. One minority party did not accept his offer of a cabinet post.
The President's first major objective was to end the rebel war which, in four years had already claimed hundreds of innocent lives, driven thousands of others into refugee status, and ruined the nation's economy. In November 1996, in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, he signed a peace agreement with the rebel leader, former Corporal Foday Sankoh of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).
The rebels reneged on the Agreement, resumed hostilities, and later perpetrated on the people of Sierra Leone what has been described as one of the most brutal internal conflicts in the world.
1996 Presidential election
| Candidates - Parties | First round | Second round | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Ahmed Tejan Kabbah - Sierra Leone People's Party | 266,893 | 35.80 | 175,419 | 59.50 |
| John Karefa-Smart - United National People's Party | 168,666 | 22.62 | 414,335 | 40.50 |
| Thaimu Bangura - People's Democratic Party | 119,782 | 16.07 | ||
| John Karimu - National Unity Party | 39,617 | 5.31 | ||
| Edward Turay - All People's Congress | 38,316 | 5.14 | ||
| Abu Aiah Koroma - Democratic Centre Party | 36,779 | 4.93 | ||
| Abass Bundu - People's Progressive Party | 21,557 | 2.89 | ||
| Amadu Jalloh - National Democratic Alliance | 17,335 | 2.33 | ||
| Edward Kargbo - People's National Convention | 15,798 | 2.12 | ||
| Desmond Luke - National Unity Movement | 7,918 | 1.06 | ||
| Andrew Lungay - Social Democratic Party | 5,202 | 0.70 | ||
| Andrew Turay - National Peoples Party | 3,925 | 0.53 | ||
| Mohamed Sillah - National Alliance Democratic Party | 3,723 | 0.50 | ||
| Total | 1,022,754 | |||
| Source: Elections in Sierra Leone database | ||||
Coup and exile
In 1996, a coup attempt involving Johnny Paul Koroma and other junior officers of the Sierra Leone Army was unsuccessful, but served as notice that Kabbah's control over military and government officials in Freetown was weakening.
In May 1997, a military coup forced the President into exile in neighbouring Guinea. The coup was led by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, and Koroma was freed and installed as the head of state. Kabbah's government was revived nine months later as the military-rebel junta was removed by troops of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the command of the Nigerian led ECOMOG (ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group) and loyal civil and military defence forces, notably the Kamajors led by Samuel Hinga Norman.
Kabbah was forced to flee to Guinea and attempted to garner international support.
Return to Sierra Leone
Once again, in pursuit of peace, President Kabbah signed the Lomé Peace Accord with the RUF rebel leader Foday Sankoh on 7 July 1999. Notwithstanding repeated violations by the RUF, the document, known as the Lomé Peace Agreement, remained the cornerstone of sustainable peace, security, justice and national reconciliation in Sierra Leone. On 18 January 2002, at a ceremony marking the conclusion of the disarmament and demobilization of ex-combatants under the auspices of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), he declared that the rebel war was over.
Saved by Nigeria and Britain
Although elected as president, he faced the task of fighting a brutal enemy. His most crucial military support was however from outside; Nigeria was the foremost participant as they crucially intervened under the leadership of the late General Sani Abacha, who was then the military head of his country. On February 1998, he sent his troops to push out the infamous military junta and rebel alliance of Johnny Paul Koroma and Sam Bockarie, known as Maskita. The rebels however continued their attempt to dethrone Kabbah's government, despite signing numerous peace accords with President Kabbah. In May 2000, Foday Saybanah Sankoh, who was then part of Kabbah's cabinet, kidnapped several UN troops, and then ordered his rebels to march to Freetown. Trouble was looming as the capital was once more threatened with another January 6, 1999 scenario. But with the timely intervention of the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair,[2] 800 British troops were sent to Freetown to halt the impending rebel march to the city. President Kabbah was very grateful to the British Prime Minister, calling his intervention "timely" and one that "Sierra Leonean people will never forget".
2002 Presidential election
| Candidates - Parties | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahmad Tejan Kabbah - Sierra Leone People's Party | 70.1 | ||
| Ernest Bai Koroma - All People's Congress | 22.3 | ||
| Johnny Paul Koroma -Peace and Liberation Party | 3.0 | ||
| Alimamy Pallo Bangura - Revolutionary United Front Party | 1.7 | ||
| John Karefa-Smart - United National People's Party | 1.0 | ||
| Total | 100.0 | ||
| Source: Sierra Leone Web | |||
Political goals and views
As the first leader after the civil war, Kabbah's main task was to disarm the different parties involved in the war and to build unity of the country. Time magazine has called Kabbah a "diamond in the rough" for his success as the first civilian elected ruler of Sierra Leone in 34 years and his role in the end of what became a decade long conflict from 1992 until 2000.[citation needed] Although he himself was not considered corrupt, Kabbah has been accused of inability to deal with corrupt officials in his government many of whom are said to be profiting from the diamond trade.[citation needed] Kabbah has struggled with this problem and invited the British to help set up an anticorruption commission.[citation needed]
End of term and post-presidency
Kabbah left office in September 2007 at the end of his second 5-year term. Constitutionally, he is ineligible to seek re-election. His Vice-President, Solomon Berewa, ran as the SLPP candidate to succeed Kabbah but was defeated by opposition candidate Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC.
Kabbah was the head of the Commonwealth's observer mission for the December 2007 Kenyan election,[1] as well as the head of the African Union's observer mission for the March 2008 Zimbabwean election.[2]
Personal life
Kabbah's wife Patricia, an ethnic Sherbro, died in 1998. He has five children: Mariama, Abu, Michael, Isata and Tejan Jr., and three grandchildren: Simone, Isata, and Aidan.
Honors
President Kabbah, as Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone in Freetown holds an honorary doctor of laws degree of the University. In September 2001 Southern Connecticut State University in the United States awarded him with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, in recognition of his effort to bring peace to his country. In July 2006, he received another honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, for his contribution to restoring peace in his country after a decade of civil war, and for working towards political and economic reconstruction following the end of the war.
The President is Grand Commander of the Order of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
References
- ^ "Kenya: EU observers doubt "exaggerated" voter turnout in Kenyan polls", Panapress (afriquenligne.fr), December 30, 2007.
- ^ Cris Chinaka, "Mugabe to chair meeting", Reuters (IOL), April 3, 2008.
- Aisha Labi. "Diamond In the Rough" Time magazine Sunday, August 18, 2002 accessed from [3] on August 27, 2005
External links
- http://kalleonegroup.com/newspaper/dev_news_files/Blair_legacy_in_Sierra_Leone.html
- http://www.statehouse-sl.org/biodata.html
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