By KABS KANU :
I.B. Kargbo may not have won by the huge margin we expected and some people might tend to underrate him because of his advanced age, but frankly speaking , my former boss in the Information Ministry still has a lot of kicks left in him and will excel as an MP. In fact, his vitality and resourcefulness belie his age. Let us face that reality.
When you talk with IB, he is a very vibrant , intelligent and experienced man and he has nothing to suggest that he is past his prime. He may be in his 70s but he has not lost any of his old intellectual spark and his wisdom .
As a public servant, IB has always excelled himself. He did not know me in Bo, but as a schoolboy I knew him when he was Vice-Principal, working for the St. Andrews Secondary School ( UCC ) under my uncle, the late Dr. Kargbo, who was the Principal. The then young and dashing educator did an excellent job in Bo. Then I went to college and left Bo.
The next time I heard about IB we were both writing for the TABLET newspaper , edited by Pios Foray. That was in the early 80s. I admired his brilliant analyses of national events and he moved on to set up his own newspaper called THE CITIZEN, which is one of the oldest surviving news outlets in the country.
IB was a parliamentarian under the late President Momoh and he also did very well in that capacity.
As President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists ( SLAJ ) , IB also excelled himself.
I worked directly with him when he was Minister of Information and Communication. One thing I admired most about him was his consistency calling me whenever there was a major news break. A member of the old school, he will sit me down and dictate to me off-head the government’s position or have me conduct an interview. I admired his retentive memory and display of cavalcade of facts to back up his points.
I believe that Korthor IB, as we fondly call him, will excel once again as parliamentarian. He still has the intellect and the dynamism to make him succeed.
Congratulations, Big Brother, Hon. Ibrahim Ben Kargbo.
