Logus Koroma – The Silent Hero in APC Politics!

It is stated in Chinua Achebe’s Novel, “Things Fall Apart”, that “The Lizard that Jumps from the high Iroko tree to the ground said it will praise itself if no one else did”; but this cannot be said of Mr. Leonard Balogun Koroma; a man who, unassumingly and silently rose to political stardom through what the same Achebe would describe as “Solid Personal Achievements”! A graduate from the prestigious Fourah Bay University College in 1976, Balogun entered the Civil service and diligently went through the administrative steps starting as Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Development and Economic Planning; Press Secretary to the late President Siaka Stevens to Assistant Secretary in the Provincial Secretary’s office in Bo; to Assistant District Officer in the Moyamba and Pujehun Districts respectively and later as District Officer in Port Loko District. By 1991, he was Secretary to the Electoral Commission in Sierra Leone and Chief Elections Officer. All of this was from 1976 to 1993. From 1994 to 2006, this great man lived in the United States of America where he was very active in the APC North America branch where he occupied executive status and worked diligently to deliver the Presidency to Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma in 2007. By November 2007, he was appointed and he served graciously as Minister of State in the Vice President’s Office under Vice President Alhaji Sidikie Samuel Sam Sumana until his unexplained removal in November of 2009. By February 2011, he was again appointed National Coordinator and later acting National Chairman of Sierra Leone’s 50^th Anniversary celebration almost 8 weeks to the anniversary but he performed exceptionally well and delivered the event on a silver platter; to the amusement and admiration of his Excellency the President of the Republic; and the admiration of his immediate boss, the then Minister of Information, Hon Ibrahim B. Kargbo; both of whom thought the event was  going to be a failure but Leonard Balogun Koroma turned it around.  (Photo: Leonard Balogun Koroma – APC National Campaign Coordinator; 2012 elections)

By February of 2011, this humble son of the soil was appointed by his Excellency, the President, as APC National Campaign Coordinator for the 2012 elections campaign. Nothing more than trust and confidence could have prompted the President of the nation to entrust Balogun with such huge and risky responsibility. This young and selfless servant of the nation put his administrative and political skills to work by establishing the necessary structures to reach all APC supporters at the grass root level starting with the establishment of Ward Elections Coordinators for the 394 Wards; APC Constituency Coordinators for the 112 Constituencies; APC District Elections Coordinators for the 14 Political Districts; APC Regional Coordinators for the Four (4) Regions in the country; and APC Diaspora Campaign Coordinators for the various APC branches in the Diaspora.

The establishment of these structures was followed by the establishment of “Collation Centers” to track and compare the progressive elections results with that of 2007; particularly in the APC strongholds of the Western Regions; the Northern Region and the swing and tie breaker region of Kono District. By so doing, he subsequently discovered that we were falling behind as a party. He, in collaboration with the President and the other Coordinators within the party structure, worked very hard and turned things around by improving the registration figures; which consequently laid the foundation for winning the elections in the first round.

At this same time, the SLPP was also winning the Media propaganda battle over the APC. A very tactful Leonard Balogun Koroma intervened by taking the fight to the SLPP through countless radio and Television interviews from every corner of the country to include discussions on the popular Monologue Radio; Radio Moa in Kailahun; The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC); Radio Maria in Makeni and the Radio in Kono District as well. His focus on all of these interviews was comparing the two candidates – President Koroma and Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio. After all these interventions; and with every assessment he had done at the time, a confident Balogun predicted a 90% voter turn-out for the North; a 60 to 70% turn-out for Kono District; and a 15 to 25% turn out from the South-east and his predictions came to pass.

This “Political Guru” also acknowledged the role of the Diaspora supporters of the APC by galvanizing their unwavering support and obtaining logistics and direct foot soldier support from them which translated into many votes for the APC party on the ground. Realizing how the same Diaspora group could benefit the nation in a post-election environment, in terms of the available human resource in the Diaspora, Leonard Koroma encouraged all Diasporan groups to work together and form what is today known as an “APC Diaspora Alliance”, which has its office in the same building where the APC party Secretariat is housed. If Leonard Balogun Koroma were in the United States and performed with such excellence like he did in the Sierra Leone elections, he would be likened to great political strategists like the Republican Carl Rowe; or Obama’s David Plouff, David Axerod and Rahm Emmanuel.

Be that as it may, Mr. Leonard Balogun Koroma has made his indelible prints in the political history of this great nation and nothing but respect and God’s divine favours will forever follow him all the days of his life and he will forever prosper in the midst of great men and women of our time. He made and transformed politics into an entertaining sport and brought a smile to the faces of all the participants in our new political dispensation. He held the fort even in the midst of financial and logistical constraints so much that Edward Kamara commonly known as “Mokowa”, a frequenter of the APC party office had this to say: “I wonder if we would ever have anything enough to compensate this selfless servant of this great party for everything that he has done to bring sanity to what seemed like an abandoned party office”! Similar sentiments are shared by many other frequenters of the APC party office and all they could wish for is for Leonard to have a piece of the pie that he rightly deserves.

For like Jesus said “Suffer not the Little ones to come to me; for in them lies the Kingdom of God”, so shall you, Leonard Balogun Koroma inherit the goodness of God Almighty for sacrificing and risking everything you have for the APC party so that others could enjoy and have a place to call their own. Your track record of strengthening others at your own displeasure and discomfort will never go un-noticed! You will be remembered in our political sojourn for many years to come! Remain blessed as always because there are greater things ahead of you! On behalf of APC North America and the APC Diaspora Alliance here in Freetown, let me therefore, with all modesty, say; thank you “Big Brother” Leonard Balogun Koroma.

by Brima Michael Turay (BMT), PRO; APC North America

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