Alhaji Alpha Kanu | |
---|---|
special adviser to the President | |
Assumed office January 21, 2013 | |
President | Ernest Bai Koroma |
Preceded by | Ibrahim Ben Kargbo |
Sierra Leone Minister of Presidential and Public Affairs | |
In office December 3, 2010 –January 21, 2013 | |
Spokesman of the All People's Congress (APC) | |
Assumed office 2007 | |
Sierra Leone Minister of Natural Resources | |
In office February 27, 2009 –December 3, 2010 | |
Preceded by | Alhaji Abubakarr Jalloh |
Succeeded by | Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray |
Sierra Leone Minister of Presidential and Public Affairs | |
In office October 14, 2007 –February 29, 2009 | |
Member of Parliament of Sierra Leone from Port Loko District | |
In office 2002–2007 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Alhaji Alpha Sahid Bakar Kanu Port Loko District, Sierra Leone |
Political party | All People's Congress (APC) |
Residence(s) | Freetown, Sierra Leone |
Alma mater | Fourah Bay College University of Nottingham |
Profession | mining engineer |
Alhaji Alpha Sahid Bakar Kanu is a Sierra Leonean politician and the current Sierra Leone minister of Presidential and Public Affairs. He is also the official spokesman of the All People's Congress (APC) political party, a position he has held even before the APC came to power. In January 2012, Kanu was chosen by Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma to serve as Minister of Information and Communication in Koroma's new second term cabinet .
Kanu is a close personal friend of president Ernest Bai Koroma; he is also one of the closest and most trusted political advisors to president Koroma. Kanu is often seen together with president Ernest Bai Koroma in public.
Kanu had served as Sierra Leone Minister of Mines and Natural Resources from February 27, 2009, before he was moved again to Sierra Leone minister of Presidential and Public Affairs in a Cabinet reshuffled on December 3, 2010 by president Koroma. Kanu was an elected member of Sierra Leone House of Parliament representing Port Loko District from 2002 until 2007.
Kanu is a mining engineer by profession. He graduated with a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in geophysics from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
Kanu is a muslim and a member of the Temne ethnic group from Port Loko District in northern Sierra Leone.
Alhaji Alpha Sahid Bakar Kanu was born in Port Loko District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone of Loko and Temne parentage. Kanu attended the St. Francis Secondary in Makeni and graduated as a Science student. Upon graduation, he attended Fourah Bay College in Freetown and later proceeded to the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom where he received a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in geophysics.
Upon his return to Sierra Leone, Kanu was employed as a mining engineer at the National Diamond Mining Company (NDMC) based in Kono District for about four years, before he proceeded to lecture at the Fourah Bay College in Freetown.
After he left his lecturing profession, Kanu was appointed as head of the department of commercial enterprises where he worked for four years.
In 2002, Kanu ran for a seat in the Parliament of Sierra Leone from his home district of Port Loko in the 2002 Sierra Leone Parliamentary Election. He won the seat as a member of the opposition All People's Congress (APC). While in Parliament Kanu was one of the fierce critics of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah lead Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) government. Kanu was one of the most senior members of the APC to publicly declare his support for Ernest Bai Koroma during Koroma battle with longtime APC leader Edward Turay for the APC Leadership in 2002. When Koroma was stripped of the APC leadership by the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone in 2005, Kanu spoke against the members of the party that took the case to the supreme court and fought very hard for Koroma to again win the APC leadership. He was the spokesman of the APC, then an opposition party during the 2007 election.
When Ernest Bai Koroma was elected president in 2007, Kanu was appointed Minister of Presidential and Public Affairs from October 2007 to February 2009 when he was moved to the Ministry of Mineral Resources. In December 2009, Kanu was again appointed Minister of Presidential and Public Affairs.
The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018 when Julius Maada Bio of the SLPP won the 2018 presidential elections, though it maintains a majority in parliament.
Julius Maada Wonie Bio is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier general in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leone from 16 January 1996, to 29 March 1996, in a military junta government known as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC). As the candidate of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), Bio defeated Samura Kamara of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) in the runoff vote of the 2018 Sierra Leone presidential election with 51.8% of the votes to Kamara's 48.2%. International and local observers declared the election free and fair.
Port Loko is the capital of Port Loko District and since 2017 the North West Province of Sierra Leone. The city had a population of 21,961 in the 2004 census and current estimate of 44,900. Port Loko lies approximately 36 miles north-east of Freetown. The area in and around Port Loko is a major bauxite mining and trade centre. The town lies on the main highway linking Freetown to Guinea's capital Conakry. It also lies on the over-land highway between Freetown and its major airport, Lungi International Airport, although most travellers complete this journey via the much shorter ferry or helicopter transit.
Charles Francis Kondo Margai is a Sierra Leonean politician and constitutional lawyer who served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone in 2018.
Ernest Bai Koroma is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018.
Sorie Ibrahim Koroma commonly known as S.I. Koroma was a 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.
Alhaji Abubakarr Jalloh is a Sierra Leonean politician. Since the election of Ernest Bai Koroma as President of Sierra Leone in September 2007, Jalloh has served as Minister of Mineral Resources. In 2002 Presidential election, Jalloh was the running mate of Koroma in the All People's Congress Party. He is a member of the Fula ethnic group.
Mabinty Daramy is a Sierra Leonean politician. She was a deputy minister in President Ernest Bai Koroma's cabinet during both his terms and is currently the Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea.
Ibrahim Kemoh Sesay is a Sierra Leonean politician from the ruling All People's Congress (APC) political party. He is Sierra Leone's former Minister of Transportation and Aviation and member of the Pan-African Parliament.
Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray is a Sierra Leonean politician, businessman, who was former Sierra Leone minister of mines and mineral resources. He is also the deputy leader of the All People's Congress (APC) party.
Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, commonly known as I.B. Kargbo, is a Sierra Leonean journalist and politician. He currently the MP of constituency 030(Bombali District) Ernest Bai Koroma. I.B Kargbo is a close personal friend of president Ernest Bai Koroma and former president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. I.B. Kargbo is one of the most trusted aides to president Koroma. He has a Bachelor's degree in journalism from Fourah Bay College and a Diploma in Journalism from John New Homes School of Journalism, 1979.
Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara is a Sierra Leonean politician and economist. He was the All Peoples Congress (APC) Party's candidate for President of Sierra Leone in the 2018 election. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone from 2012 to 2017, Minister of Finance and Economic Development from 2009 to 2013, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2009, Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance during President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's administration.
Alhaji Usman Boie Kamara is a Sierra Leonean politician, businessman and mining engineer who has been Minister of Trade and Industry of Sierra Leone since 2013. He previously worked as director of the Sierra Leone National Diamond Mining Company (NDMC).
Kaifala Marah is a Sierra Leonean politician, accountant, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone (2016-2017), and Minister of Finance (2013-2016). On March 7, 2017, Dr. Marah resigned as governor in order to seek the nomination of the All People's Congress (APC) for the Presidential election of 2018.
Alhaji Moijueh Emmanuel Kaikai is a Sierra Leonean politician and the Sierra Leone Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs since 2013. He had previously served as the resident Minister of the Southern Province, and Deputy Minister of Labour.
Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.
Victor Bockarie Foh, CRSL is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as Vice President of Sierra Leone from 19 March 2015 to 4 April 2018. Foh replaced Samuel Sam-Sumana as vice president, after Sam-Sumana was sacked by President Ernest Bai Koroma.
Mohamed Mansaray widely known as Kamarainba, is a Sierra Leonean politician, psychologist, and the current leader and chairman of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP), a left wing populist political party he formed in Sierra Leone in opposition of the country"s two main political parties, the ruling APC party and the main opposition SLPP.
Rev. Leeroy Wilfred Kabs Kanu, Esq., also known as Kabs Kanu or Kabs, is a Sierra Leonean American Christian Reverend, journalist, and newspaper publisher. He is a former high school English teacher, school principal, and lecturer of Educational Psychology. Between 2009 and 2018, he served as Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations and Coordinator of the African Union Committee of 10. He worked under the presidency of former President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone.
Richard Konteh is a Sierra Leonean educator, public servant, and a businessman.