APC party leadership pays respects to the Yumkella family

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 13 July 2019:

Sierra Leone’s former President Ernest Bai Koroma and the deputy Chairman of the All Peoples Congress (APC) Party – Minkailu Mansaray, yesterday Friday, 12 July, visited the family home of Dr. Kandeh Yumkella at Juba Hill in Freetown to express their personal and party’s condolences to the Yumkella family, following the death of Yumkella’s mother Madam Haja Binta Yumkella.

Alhaji Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella arrived back in Freetown yesterday from an overseas trip, to receive well-wishers including the former president.

As condolences pour in, the secretary general of the ruling SLPP party – Napoleon Koroma sent a message of condolence to the Yumkella family on behalf of the SLPP party and government.

It is not yet clear whether the president himself – Julius Maada Bio, will visit the Yumkella family home to pay his respects.

There are rumours that president Bio is out of the country on an emergency health check-up, according to unconfirmed reports.

This fitting tribute was published on social media, yesterday in memory of Madam Haja Binta Yumkella, by Maurice Nicol in London:

“Mrs Binta Yumkella, commonly known as Haja Binta Yumkella, truly lived a life befitting herself. She was indeed mother of many children. The foregoing statement is symbolic because of her kindness, open-mindedness and accommodating attributes she was known for, as well as her love for humanity. She was indeed literally mother of many children.

Haja Binta was self-motivated, self-determined, unassuming and kindest elderly woman I have known.

I first met her in 2017 when I accompanied Honourable Dr Kandeh Yumkella to visit her in her home at 25a Juba Hill, where she lived a modest and religious life until her graceful passing on that blessed Thursday, 11 July 2019.

The indelible and greatest impact she had on many as a person, is her modesty, humility and simplicity.

I am not personally privy to her philanthropy that is much talked about but it goes without saying that Haja Binta was indeed a great philanthropist, who took care of other less privileged mothers and children in and outside of Juba Hill, according to testimonies from those who knew that warm side of her and beneficiaries of her spirit of giving.

There is no good time for a parental death even at age 80 and above, but there is a good timing for gracing the graceful passing away of a great mother. At her old age, she was still part of a crew of Allah’s servants for the improvement of the lives of women and children in Sierra Leone.

Some of her legacies include the many grown up adults she had impacted and influenced to become successful members of society; and most notable among that breed of proteges of Allah’s servants is the Honourable Dr Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella.

As we mourn the passing away of a great mother, there is every reason to find courage in her work and her gift to humanity in Sierra Leone; and forever and ever celebrate her life, for the simple reason that courage is not the absence of fear but the act of overcoming fear. We shall overcome the fear of the graceful passing away of a great mother. May her soul rest in perfect peace.”