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Sorie Ibrahim Koroma Edit Profile

also known as S.I. Koroma

politician

Sorie Ibrahim Koroma was a former Sierra Leonean politician, labor activist, and one of the founding members of the All People's Congress political party. He served as first Vice President of Sierra Leone from April 19, 1971 to retirement on November 28, 1985 under president Siaka Stevens.

Background

Sorie was born on March 18, 1930 in Port Loko, Port Loko District, Sierra Leone.

Education

SI Koroma was educated at the Government Model Primary School in Freetown and received his secondary education at the Bo School in Bo. He went to Bo school at a time when it was an institution exclusively for individuals belonging to ruling families in the provinces.

Career

On his return he worked in the cooperative department for seven years between 1951 and 1958 and then went

into private business. He formed and became the first secretary-general of the Sierra Leone Motor Transport Union. He stood as an All Peoples’ Congress candidate for Freetown Central constituency and, winning his seat, became an opposition MP from 1962 to 1965.

A really close association with President Siaka Stevens started in 1964, when Koroma became a city councillor and deputy mayor in Freetown when Stevens was mayor. His rise in the party started from that time.

He stood for Freetown again in the ill-fated elections of March 1967, when the soldiers staged their military coup and prevented Parliament from assembling.

On Stevens’ return to power after a year in exile, Koroma was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in 1958, and then Minister for Agriculture and Natural Resources from 1969 to 1971. On April 21, 1971, a long struggle for succession to party leadership, particularly with Christian Kamara Taylor, seemed settled with his appointment as Vice-President and Prime Minister on Stevens’ accession to the Presidency. In March 1972 he was also made responsible for provincial administration and chieftaincy affairs.

Achievements

  • Sorie Ibrahim Koroma is best known for his service as the 1st Vice President of Sierra Leone.

Politics

In 1960, he was member of the All People's Congress (APC), which has since been one of the premier political parties in the country. In 1962, Koroma was elected as a Member of Parliament to the Parliament of Sierra Leone representing a district of Freetown, to which he was re-elected in the 1967 election.