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Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is the President of Sierra Leone. He has been in office since 2007. An insurance executive by profession, Koroma spent more than 24 years working in the private insurance industry before entering politics in 2002. From 1988 to 2002, he was the managing director of the Reliance Insurance Trust Corporation (Ritcorp). He is a 1976 graduate from Fourah Bay College, the oldest university in West Africa. Koroma is a native of Makeni, Bombali District in the North of Sierra Leone. He was elected as leader of the All People's Congress (APC), Sierra Leone's main opposition party, on 24 March 2002,〔("The President" ), State House, Sierra Leone government.〕 after defeating then incumbent APC leader Edward Turay. Koroma stood as the APC candidate in the 2002 presidential election but was defeated by incumbent President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who won 70.3% of the vote, to Koroma's 22.35%.〔("Victory of Sierra Leone President Was by Landslide Margin – 19 May 2002" ), Voice of America, 26 October 2009.〕 Koroma conceded defeat. Koroma was later elected to Parliament, representing his home District of Bombali from 2002 to 2007. In 2005, he was elected the minority leader of Parliament and remained in that position until his election to the Presidency in 2007. In the 2007 presidential election run-off, Koroma received 54.6% of the vote and defeated incumbent Vice-President Solomon Berewa of the ruling SLPP.〔Bampia James Bundu, ("Solomon Berewa Concedes Defeat to Ernest Bai Koroma in Sierra Leone" ), ''Awareness Times'', 17 September 2007.〕 Berewa conceded defeat, and Koroma was sworn in as President on 17 September 2007, at the State House in the capital Freetown. International and local observers declared the election free and fair.〔("S Leone elections 'free and fair'" ), BBC News, 13 August 2007.〕〔("Sierra Leone Human Rights" ), Amnesty International.〕 Koroma succeeded President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, who was constitutionally ineligible to run for the presidency again after serving the maximum two five-year term limit. In the November 2012 presidential election, Koroma was re-elected as President for a second term, receiving 58.7%, against his main opponent, SLPP candidate Julius Maada Bio, who received 37.4%.〔(National Electoral Commission (NEC) Sierra Leone. )〕〔("Sierra Leone: Ernest Bai Koroma wins presidential poll" ), BBC News – Africa, 23 November 2012,〕〔("Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma Reelected" ), RTT News, 23 November 2012.〕〔("Ernest Bai Koroma re-elected as Sierra Leone's President" ), English.news.cn, 24 November 2012.〕 International observers deemed the election to be free and fair.〔〔Simon Akam, ("Sierra Leone's Koroma promises growth in new term" ), Reuters, 23 November 2012.〕 ==Early life and education== Ernest Bai Koroma was born on 2 October 1953, in Makeni,〔Makeni is the nearest city, but some sources suggest that he was born in Makari Gbanti chiefdom. 〕 Bombali District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Koroma was born of Christian parentage in the predominantly Muslim north and a devout Christian himself. Koroma is a longtime member of the Wesleyan Church of Sierra Leone.〔("New president of West African country is Wesleyan" ), NCN News, 20 September 2007.〕〔("Sierra Leone: President Koroma is 'Wesleyan Hero'" ), ''Concord Times (Freetown), 14 October 2008. AllAfrica.〕 His father Pa Sylvanus Koroma, who was of Temne and Loko heritage, and was a native of Makari Gbanti chiefdom, Bombali District. Pa Sylvanus spent years working as a bible school teacher at the Wesleyan Church in Makeni. Koroma's mother, Madam Alice Koroma (27 June 1932 – 6 July 2012), was an ethnic Biriwa Limba from the small rural town of Kamabai, Bombali District. She served as a councilor in the Makeni city council in the 1960s as a member of the All People's Congress (APC). Maddam Alice Koroma was a prominent member of the APC, and the women's leader of the APC Bombali District branch. She was also a strong supporter of then Sierra Leone's president Siaka Stevens' APC government. She later spent almost her entire career working as a primary school teacher in Makeni. Koroma was raised in a predominantly Temne household in Makeni. He is also a fluent speaker of the Temne language. He grew up in a religious Christian household, and regularly attended church services with his siblings at the Wesleyan church in Makeni, where his parents were longtime members of the congregation. Koroma attended the Sierra Leone Church Primary School in Makeni, and then proceeded to the Magburaka Government Secondary School for Boys in Magburaka, Tonkolili District (about 25 miles from his hometown of Makeni), where he graduated in 1973.〔http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=85571〕 He then moved to the capital Freetown to attend Fourah Bay College, from where he graduated in 1976 with a degree in Business Management. Soon after graduating from Fourah Bay College, he was employed as a teacher at St. Francis Secondary School in Makeni (1976–78). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ernest Bai Koroma」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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