Zainab Bangura
Encyclopedia
Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura (born December 18, 1959 in Yonibana
, Tonkolili District
) is a Sierra Leone
an politician
and social activist. She is currently Sierra Leone minister of Health and sanitation. In 2007 Bangura became Sierra Leone's foreign minister
in the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma
of the All People's Congress
(APC) Party. She is the second woman to serve as Sierra Leone's foreign minister, following Shirley Gbujama
who held that position from 1996 to 1997. Bangura has been tiped by many political insiders to be Sierra Leone's first female president. As a devoted muslim
, Zainab Hawa Bangura took time off politics
in 2009 and heads to the Holy city
of Mecca
in Saudi Arabia
and participated in the 2009 Hajj
pilgrimage
ceremony. http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/archives/3449
town of Yonibana
, Tonkolili District
in the Northern Province
of Sierra Leone. She hails from the Temne ethnic group
. She was born into a rural Temne family of limited means. She obtained a scholarship to study at Mathora Girls Secondary School in the town of Mathora, Tonkolili District and later at the Annie Walsh Girls Secondary School in the capital city of Freetown
. After graduating from Sierra Leone's Fourah Bay College
, she studied in the United Kingdom
for advanced diplomas in insurance. While in her early 30s, she became vice-president of one of her country's largest insurance companies. She speaks three languages: Temne
, Krio
, and English
.
military government, starting with consciousness-raising efforts among urban market women. In 1994 she founded Women Organized for a Morally Enlightened Nation (W.O.M.E.N.), the first non-partisan women's rights
group in the country. The following year she co-founded the Campaign for Good Governance
(CGG). Using CGG as her platform, she campaigned for the holding of the national elections that finally drove the NPRC junta from power in 1996 and restored democratic government. These were Sierra Leone's first democratic elections in 25 years.
During Sierra Leone's civil war
(1991–2002) Bangura spoke out forcefully against the atrocities committed against the civilian population by the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) and was targeted for assassination
several times by that group. She also spoke against the corruption
in the civilian government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
and the atrocities committed against civilians by government soldiers. In 2002 she ran against Kabbah for the presidency of Sierra Leone
, departing for the first time from her accustomed role as a non-partisan civil society
activist. She won less than one percent of the vote, and her Movement for Progress (MOP) party failed to gain any seats in Sierra Leone's parliament
. Mrs. Bangura claimed that her party's low vote count resulted from corruption in the voting system.
After the 2002 elections Bangura founded the National Accountability Group (NAG) whose mission was to fight against official corruption and to promote transparency and accountability in government. In 2006 she left Sierra Leone for neighboring Liberia where she was appointed Director of the Civil Affairs Office in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and given responsibility for the reconstruction of 16 Liberian ministries
and 30 government agencies following that country's devastating civil war
.
Bangura returned to Sierra Leone in 2007 after Ernest Bai Koroma won the presidency in a hard-fought national election and was named foreign minister shortly thereafter. Many Sierra Leoneans believed that the new president elevated this well known critic of government to such a high position in order to demonstrate his good faith in promising reform.
(Washington, DC, 2006).
Yonibana
Yonibana is a small rural town in Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Yonibana is primarily from the Temne ethnic group...
, Tonkolili District
Tonkolili District
Tonkolili District is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Magburaka. The other major towns include Mathora, Magbass, Yonibana and Mile 91...
) is a Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
an politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and social activist. She is currently Sierra Leone minister of Health and sanitation. In 2007 Bangura became Sierra Leone's foreign minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
in the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma
Ernest Bai Koroma
Ernest Bai Koroma is the fourth and current President of Sierra Leone. He was sworn in as President on 17 September 2007 at the State House in the capital Freetown, shortly after being declared the winner of a tense run-off in the 2007 Sierra Leone presidential election with 54.6% of the vote over...
of the All People's Congress
All People's Congress
The All People's Congress is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other is the Sierra Leone People's Party . The party was founded in 1960 by Pa Mucktarru Kallay, Allieu Badarr Koroma,Alhaji Sheik Gibril Sesay C A Kamara-Taylor, S A T Koroma and Abu Bakarr S Bangura...
(APC) Party. She is the second woman to serve as Sierra Leone's foreign minister, following Shirley Gbujama
Shirley Gbujama
Madam Shirley Yema Gbujama is a Sierra Leonean politician who served in a number of cabinet positions, including Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Social Welfare, Minister of Tourism and Culture, and Minister of Gender and Children’s Affairs. She was one of the most respected and...
who held that position from 1996 to 1997. Bangura has been tiped by many political insiders to be Sierra Leone's first female president. As a devoted muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, Zainab Hawa Bangura took time off politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
in 2009 and heads to the Holy city
Holy city
Holy city is a synonym applied to many cities, all of them central to the history or faith of specific religions. Such cities may also contain at least one headquarters complex which constitutes a major destination of human...
of Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and participated in the 2009 Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
ceremony. http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/archives/3449
Early life
Mrs. Bangura was born Zainab Hawa Sesay in the small ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
town of Yonibana
Yonibana
Yonibana is a small rural town in Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Yonibana is primarily from the Temne ethnic group...
, Tonkolili District
Tonkolili District
Tonkolili District is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Magburaka. The other major towns include Mathora, Magbass, Yonibana and Mile 91...
in the Northern Province
Northern Province, Sierra Leone
The Northern Province is one of the four provincial divisions of Sierra Leone. It comprises five Districts and covers an area of 35,936 km² and with a population of 1,718,240 . Its administrative and economic center is Makeni...
of Sierra Leone. She hails from the Temne ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
. She was born into a rural Temne family of limited means. She obtained a scholarship to study at Mathora Girls Secondary School in the town of Mathora, Tonkolili District and later at the Annie Walsh Girls Secondary School in the capital city of Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...
. After graduating from Sierra Leone's Fourah Bay College
Fourah Bay College
Fourah Bay College is the oldest university college in West Africa. It is located atop Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone...
, she studied in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for advanced diplomas in insurance. While in her early 30s, she became vice-president of one of her country's largest insurance companies. She speaks three languages: Temne
Temne language
Temne is a language of the Atlantic subfamily of Niger–Congo languages spoken in Sierra Leone by about 2 million first speakers. One of the country's most widely spoken languages, it is spoken by 30% of the country’s population...
, Krio
Krio language
Sierra Leone Krio is the lingua franca and the de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 97% of Sierra Leone's population and unites the different ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction with each...
, and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Public life
Bangura began her career as a social activist during the difficult period when Sierra Leone was ruled by the N.P.R.C.Valentine Strasser
Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser served as head of state of Sierra Leone from 1992 to 1996. He had been a junior military officer but in 1992, he became the world's youngest Head of State when he seized power three days after his 25th birthday...
military government, starting with consciousness-raising efforts among urban market women. In 1994 she founded Women Organized for a Morally Enlightened Nation (W.O.M.E.N.), the first non-partisan women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
group in the country. The following year she co-founded the Campaign for Good Governance
Campaign for Good Governance
The Campaign for Good Governance is democracy-supporting NGO in Sierra Leone. CGG promotes the building of democratic institutions, transparency and accountability in government, active citizen participation in the political process, voter education, human rights, and the rule of law. CGG also...
(CGG). Using CGG as her platform, she campaigned for the holding of the national elections that finally drove the NPRC junta from power in 1996 and restored democratic government. These were Sierra Leone's first democratic elections in 25 years.
During Sierra Leone's civil war
Sierra Leone Civil War
The Sierra Leone Civil War began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front , with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia , intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government...
(1991–2002) Bangura spoke out forcefully against the atrocities committed against the civilian population by the Revolutionary United Front
Revolutionary United Front
The Revolutionary United Front was a rebel army that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later developed into a political party, which existed until 2007...
(RUF) and was targeted for assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
several times by that group. She also spoke against the corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
in the civilian government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah served as President of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007.He worked for the United Nations Development Programme and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992...
and the atrocities committed against civilians by government soldiers. In 2002 she ran against Kabbah for the presidency of Sierra Leone
Heads of government of Sierra Leone
The following is a list of heads of government of Sierra Leone from 1954 until 1978, when a single party constitution was adopted, and President of Sierra Leone became head of government as well.-Heads of Government of Sierra Leone:-See also:...
, departing for the first time from her accustomed role as a non-partisan civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
activist. She won less than one percent of the vote, and her Movement for Progress (MOP) party failed to gain any seats in Sierra Leone's parliament
Parliament of Sierra Leone
The unicameral Parliament of Sierra Leone is the country's legislative body. It is sometimes known as the House of Representatives.The current Parliament, formed following elections held on 14 May 2002, has a total of 124 members. 112 members are directly elected in multi-member constituencies...
. Mrs. Bangura claimed that her party's low vote count resulted from corruption in the voting system.
After the 2002 elections Bangura founded the National Accountability Group (NAG) whose mission was to fight against official corruption and to promote transparency and accountability in government. In 2006 she left Sierra Leone for neighboring Liberia where she was appointed Director of the Civil Affairs Office in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and given responsibility for the reconstruction of 16 Liberian ministries
Ministry (government department)
A ministry is a specialised organisation responsible for a sector of government public administration, sometimes led by a minister or a senior public servant, that can have responsibility for one or more departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions or other smaller executive, advisory, managerial or...
and 30 government agencies following that country's devastating civil war
Second Liberian Civil War
The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighbouring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy , emerged in northern Liberia. In early 2003, a second rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia, emerged in the south, and...
.
Bangura returned to Sierra Leone in 2007 after Ernest Bai Koroma won the presidency in a hard-fought national election and was named foreign minister shortly thereafter. Many Sierra Leoneans believed that the new president elevated this well known critic of government to such a high position in order to demonstrate his good faith in promising reform.
Awards
Bangura has won several international awards for her promotion of democracy and human rights in Africa, including: the African International Award of Merit for Leadership (Nigeria, 1999); the Human Rights Award given by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (New York, 2000); the Bayard Rustin Humanitarian Award given by the A. Philip Randolph Institute (Washington, DC, 2002); and the Democracy Award given by the National Endowment for DemocracyNational Endowment for Democracy
The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, is a U.S. non-profit organization that was founded in 1983 to promote US-friendly democracy by providing cash grants funded primarily through an annual allocation from the U.S. Congress...
(Washington, DC, 2006).
Sources
- Profile of Zainab Bangura
- Letter from Zainab Bangura to Britain's Commission for Africa, ca. 2002
- Keynote Speech by Zainab Bangura, Durban, South Africa, 2004
- Video of Zainab Bangura speaking on the world food crisis, 2008
- Profile of Zainab Bangura's Performance as Foreign Minister
- Article critical of Zainab Bangura and CGG