Kaifala Marah (born in Koidu Town,Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean politician,accountant,Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone (2016–2017),and Minister of Finance (2013–2016). [1] [2] On 7 March 2017,Dr. Marah resigned as governor to seek the nomination of the All People's Congress (APC) for the presidential election of 2018. [3]
He served as State House chief of staff and senior economic advisor to Sierra Leone's president Ernest Bai Koroma from 2010 until his appointment as finance minister in 2013. [4]
Marah holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Fourah Bay College,a master's degree in public policy from State University of New York;and a doctorate degree in political finance from the University of Hull. Marah served as a deputy town clerk at the Koidu-New Sembehun city council. He later served as a budget analyst at the New York State Senate. [5] Marah was the public expenditure management adviser at the commonwealth secretariat in London,before he was appointed as chief of staff to president Ernest Bai Koroma. [6]
Marah was born and raised in Koidu Town,Kono District,in Eastern Sierra Leone. His family is originally from Koinadugu District in Northern Sierra Leone. Marah is a Muslim and a member of the Kuranko ethnic group.
Kaifala Marah was born and raised in Koidu Town,Kono District,in the Eastern province of Sierra Leone to Kuranko parents from Koinadugu District in the north of Sierra Leone.
Marah attended Ansarul Islamic Boys Secondary School in Koidu Town. Marah holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone;a master's degree in public policy from State University of New York;and a doctorate degree in political finance (political economy) from the University of Hull
Marah had served as a deputy town clerk at the Koidu-New Sembehun city council. He later served as a budget analyst at the New York State Senate. [5] Marah was the public expenditure management adviser at the commonwealth secretariat in London,before he was appointed as chief of staff to president Ernest Bai Koroma. [6]
Marah was appointed by Sierra Leone's president Ernest Bai Koroma to serve as his chief of staff and senior economic advisor from 2010 up until December 2012,when president Koroma moved him to become Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone. [7]
In 2018,immediately after taking office,President Julius Maada Bio’s administration announced a Commissions of Inquiry (COI) [8] approved to look into the performance of former All People's Congress (APC) government officials and that the scope of the inquiry will cover the period November 2007 to April 2018. Over 300 persons who served in senior positions in the former Koroma administration,including Kaifala Marah,were indicted. Justice John Rosolu Bankole Thompson,who headed Commission Number 2 of the three Commissions of Inquiry,blasted the Bio regime for misusing the COI in a manner that was "not reasonable or permissible" and also "not cognizable" under the COI legal framework that President Bio had sent for approval to Parliament. [9]
In 2020 it was announced that the All People's Congress (APC) would hold their convention to elect a new leader that will challenge president Julius Maada Bio of the SLPP who is facing re-election for a second five-year term in 2023. Marah,a former Minister of Finance and a former Chief Minister (Chief of Staff to the President) announced his candidacy for the leadership of the All People's Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 Sierra Leone presidential and parliamentary elections. [10] He is one of seven candidates for the APC leadership. [11]
Marah is a clear underdog to the previous APC leader Samura Kamara who became leader in 2018 by selection by then outgoing president and APC party chairman Ernest Koroma,instead of election –a move that was unpopular with the majority of APC supporters[9]. APC ultimately lost the elections to the SLPP[10].
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone,along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. The SLPP dominated Sierra Leone's politics from its foundation in 1951 to 1967,when it lost the 1967 parliamentary election to the APC,led by Siaka Stevens. Originally a centre-right,conservative party,it identifies since 2012 as a centre-left social democratic party,with a centrist tendency.
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 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).
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.
Solomon Ekuma Dominic Berewa was Vice-president of Sierra Leone from May 2002 to September 2007. Standing as the candidate of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP),he was defeated in the second round of the 2007 presidential election by Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC).
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.
Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema,Tombodu,Jaiama Nimikor and Sewafe. The district is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone. The population of Kono District is 505,767. Kono District borders Kenema District to the southwest,The Republic of Guinea to the east,Koinadugu District to the northeast and Kailahun District to the southeast. Kono District is divided into fourteen chiefdoms.
Koinadugu District is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. It is the largest District in Sierra Leone in geographical area,and one of the least densely populated. Its capital and largest city is Kabala,which is also one of the main cities in Northern Sierra Leone. The District of Koinadugu has a population of 404,097,based on the 2015 Sierra Leone national census;and has a total area of 12,121 km2 (4,680 sq mi). Koinadugu District is subdivided into eleven chiefdoms.
The following list is of events that happened during 2007 in Sierra Leone.
Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17,2007,to March 17,2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) in the 2007 presidential election,alongside presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma. The APC ticket defeated the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) presidential candidate Solomon Berewa and vice presidential candidate Momodou Koroma. Sam-Sumana took office as vice president on September 17,2007.
General elections were held in Sierra Leone on 17 November 2012. The result was a sweeping victory for the ruling All People's Congress. Its leader,incumbent president Ernest Bai Koroma,won 58.7% of the vote,enough to win a second term without the need for a runoff. The APC also won 67 of the 112 elected seats in Parliament. To date,it is the APC's best showing at an election since the restoration of multiparty politics in 1991.
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.
Mandingo people of Sierra Leone is a major ethnic group in Sierra Leone and a branch of the Mandinka people of West Africa. Most Sierra Leonean Mandingo are the direct descendants of Mandinka settlers from Guinea,who settled in the north and eastern part of Sierra Leone,beginning in the late 1870s to the 1890s under the rule of prominent Mandinka Muslim cleric Samori Ture. Also later a significantly large population of Mandinka from Guinea migrated and settled in Eastern Sierra Leone and Northern Sierra Leone in the early to mid 20th century. The Mandingo people of Sierra Leone have a very close friendly and allied relationship with their neighbors the Mandingo people of Guinea and Liberia,as they share pretty much identical dialect of the Mandingo language,tradition,culture and food.
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.
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