Alhaji Ahmadu Wurie (August 27,1898-June 13, 1977) was one of Sierra Leone’s foremost educators in the 20th century. An active politician, he was appointed minister of education in the first post-independence Sierra Leone Parliament.
He was born in Gbinti on the estuary of the Mela-courie River. His mother was Ya Bomporro Folah and his father, paramount chief Bai Sheka Bundu, was one of the principal supporters of Bai Bureh (q.v.) during the 1898 uprising against the British.
Amadu Wurie was a foundation pupil of the Bo School in the Southern Province, established in 1906 to cater for the education of sons and nominees of chiefs. In 1916 he was among the first pupils of that school to succeed in the civil service entrance examination. He was appointed an assistant master at the school in 1916, subsequently rising to the rank of senior assistant master in 1925. In 1927 he suggested the formation of the old Bo Boys Association (O.B.B.A.), serving first as general secretary and later as president of this organisation which was the inspiration for many other old boys’ clubs in the country. On several occasions between 1933 and 1935 Ahmadu Wurie served as acting principal of the school, the first African to fulfil such a role.
From Bo he moved on to Koyeima School, Bo district, where he served as headmaster from 1935 to 1942. In the latter year he became education officer, a post he held until 1952 when he was appointed the first principal of the Kenema secondary school. In 1953 he was appointed a member of Port Loko education district council and chairman of the Port Loko education authority. In 1955 he was appointed provincial education secretary, Northern Province. Six years later he became a member of the Mine Workers’ Wages Board.
By 1961, when Sierra Leone became independent, Ahmadu Wurie had served in most of the districts in the country. His connection with the country’s leading political figures dated from his Bo School days. As early as the late 1940s, he had become an active member of the Protectorate Educational Progress Union (P.E.P.U), which then comprised most of the Protectorate elite. In 1962 he entered Parliament under the Sierra Leone People’s Party (S.L.P.P.) banner and was appointed minister of education in recognition of his life-long devotion to teaching. After the cabinet crisis following Albert Margai’s appointment as prime minister in 1964, Ahmadu Wurie was one of the few prominent Northern ministers loyal to the new head of government. He later served as minister of the interior. In 1964 he was awarded the C.B.E. (Companion of the British Empire) for his significant contribution to the educational progress of the country.
After the 1967 general election, in which he lost his seat, Ahmadu Wurie retired into private life at Mahera, near Longi, in the Port Loko district. During this period he made a pilgrimage to Mecca. In January 1973 the University of Sierra Leone conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law.
Besides politics, Ahmadu Wurie also took a lively interest in the history of the country, especially that of his ancestors, the Bunduka, in whose territory he collected many oral traditions. These were published in the journal, Sierra Leone Studies. While in retirement he co-authored (with Elizabeth Hirst) a biography of his grandfather. Alimamy Rassin, which was published in 1968.
He died on June 13,1977.
E. AMADU TURAY
