Ernest Bai Koroma
Fourah Bay College
US President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with African leaders including Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma (2nd R), Senegal's President Macky Sall (L), Malawi's President Joyce Banda (2nd L), and Cape Verde's Prime Minister Jos aria Pereira Neves (R) on March 28, 2013 in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC
Koroma's father, Sylvanus Koroma was an ethnic Temne preacher. Koroma's mother, Madam Alice Koroma was an ethnic Biriwa Limba. Koroma is an ethnic Temne, due to his father's ethnic group, and was raised in a predominantly Temne household in Makeni.
Ernest Bai Koroma graduated from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone (1976).
An insurance company executive (1978-2001), he retired to enter politics full time. He was elected leader of the All Peoples Congress (APC) in 2002, defeating members of the party's old guard in the process. In 2002 he placed a distant second in the presidential election, was elected to parliament, and became opposition leader. In the election of 2007, Koroma won a runoff contest with Vice President Solomon Berewa and became president.
Koroma is married to Sia Nyama Koroma, the daughter of Abu Aiah Koroma, and has two daughters.
Sylvanus Koroma was a native of Makari Gbanti chiefdom, Bombali District. He spent years working as a bible school teacher at the Wesleyan Church in Makeni.
Madam Alice Koroma (June 27, 1932 – July 6, 2012), was from the small rural town of Kamabai, Bombali District. She served as a councillor in the Makeni city council in the 1960s as a member of the All People's Congress (APC). Madam Alice Koroma was a prominent member of the APC party Bombali District branch, and a strong supporter of then Sierra Leone's president Siaka Stevens' APC government. Later she spent almost her entire career working as a primary school teacher in Makeni.
Alice Koroma was born in Freetown and she is named after Maddam Alice Koroma, the mother of Ernest Bai Koroma. Currently she is attending university in the United Kingdom.
Sia Nyama Koroma is the daughter of Abu Aiah Koroma, who served for a time as Attorney General. Sia Nyama Koroma is a biochemist and an ethnic Kono from Kono District. She holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Chemistry and a Masters in Biochemistry. She is also a Psychiatric Nurse trained and qualified in Great Britain.
Danke Koroma was born in London and she is named after Danke Evelyn Koroma, the mother of Koroma's wife Sia Nyama Koroma. Currently she is attending university in the United Kingdom.
