The owner, publisher and Editor-In-Chief of the Cocorioko Newspaper, Rev. Wilfred Leeroy Kabs-Kanu, has won yet another award for outstanding Journalism.
The ruling All People’s Congress ( APC ) Georgia Branch, in their all-important Convention, held in Atlanta, Georgia last Saturday, honored the Cocorioko Chief with a plaque for what it described as outstanding service in Journalism to the nation and the community and the All People’s Congress .
The Publisher was officially invited to Georgia over the weekend as one of the guests of honor and also to receive his award from one of the most vibrant and important branches of the ruling APC in North America. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, the owner of Cocorioko could not make the trip and mandated the President of the APC-New Jersey Branch to collect the award on his behalf.
According to the Organizing Secretary and Spokesman of the APC-Georgia Branch, Mr. Mohamed Bangura , popularly known as ‘M. Bangs’ , the award was given to thank the Publisher and demonstrate appreciation to him for the excellent and tireless work he is undertaking to provide quality news and information about the nation and the community in a gallant desire to rebrand Sierra Leone .
Mr. M. Bangs said that Cocorioko , constantly, has been a primary source of news and information carefully packaged to promote and enhance the image of Sierra Leone to the international world.He commended the fantastic role the newspaper has played in neutralizing the damaging and negative perceptions about the country being perpetrated to the international world by the enemies of progress in Sierra Leone and the diaspora and the opposition .
The paper, he went on, has also been a motivating force for the ruling APC since it was in the opposition. He recalled the difficult days of the APC while it was in the opposition and when many people did not want to affiliate themselves with the party because of the propaganda against the party by its detractors after the 1992 military coup that overthrew the APC Government of President Joseph Momoh. It was Cocorioko , which faithfully stood by the APC , especially during the arduous 2007 Presidential and Legislative electioneering campaign , which brought the party to power.
The Cocorioko Publisher , KABS KANU, has an enviable record of winning big awards for excellent journalism . In 2005, the New York Chapter of the oldest political party in Sierra Leone, the Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) gave him an award for outstanding journalism and community service.
In 2008, Kabs Kanu was the first Sierra Leone journalist to win the prestigious NOSLINA Award for excellent community service as a journalist with COCORIOKO . NOSLINA is the National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America . It is composed of the country’s leading intellectuals –an umbrella organization for Sierra Leonean oorganizations in the U.S and the NOSLINA Award is the Sierra Leonean equivalence of the OSCAR.
KABS KANU was one of the Sierra Leoneans honoured on the occasion of the 50th Independence Anniversary of the country in 2011 when he was recommended for and received the Jubilee Award for Journalism , specifically for providing Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora and back home with information about the country through the Cocorioko Newspaper .
In 2012, KABS KANU won another coveted honor–The HALL OF FAME AWARD -from the SAVE SIERRA LEONE FOUNDATION–Another very important organization in the United States–for outstanding Journalism and community service. He also won another award for the same purpose from the umbrella organization , the UNION OF SIERRA LEONEAN ORGANIZATIONS IN NORTH AMERICA.
In 2013, KABS KANU was again invited to mount the rostrum to receive another award–THE GEMS OF AFRICA Award –from the U.S-based organization, SPRINGS OF JOY.
Recently , he won another award , given by the APC-New Jersey Branch for his contribution to the party and country as a journalist.
In thanking Mr. M. Bangs and the APC-Georgia for the award, Rev. Kabs-Kanu said he appreciates the recognition , honor and appreciation of his services. He said that the awards are adding up and he believes they will serve as a legacy for his children and grandchildren. He promised to do more to rebrand Sierra Leone and also continue to promote the agenda and achievements of the APC.
