By Jimmy B
May the peace of the almighty god be upon us all. Humility is the greatest attribute a man can ever posses. Be humble in everything you do and the good Lord will sound your trumpet.
His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, Hon. Vice President, our dear mother Mrs. I.J Kabbah and family, distinguished ladies & gentlemen. It is with great humility that I stand here today to sound the trumpet of our late president Alhaji Dr. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Pa Kabbah was, and remains an inspiration to me. I consider myself very lucky to have had this privilege of knowing him personally and to have shared with him a very special father and son type of relationship for which i will forever be grateful.
Pa Kabbah came, he saw and he conquered. He helped create an environment conducive enough for artists to succeed, especially musicians. Like no other president or leader in any developing country that I know of, he was extremely tolerant with us musicians. He gave us so much freedom even when we sometimes abused that freedom and behaved irresponsibly. He would say “unah lef dem mek den sing - e betteh pass den tot gun.” A true democrat.
Pa Kabbah was courageous enough to seek peace, brave enough to achieve peace, strong and determined enough to maintain peace. And after serving his two terms, he consolidated that peace by handing over power to an elected opposition. The greatest tribute we can now pay to Pa Kabbah is to continue to build on that peace together for the benefit of all.
I have never met a more humble human being for whom material gains are of no importance. He shunned all that is vanity, for he knew that empty we came into this world and empty shall we return.
From a humble background he came, and against all odds he made it.
Thank you Pa Kabbah for helping me re-affirm my belief that we can make our own destiny and rise above our circumstances.
I want to use a quote from Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech in 1994 which reads:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves “who am I to be brilliant?” Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in every one and as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Thank you for giving us permission to shine Pa Kabbah.
In my opinion, ladies and gentlemen, I believe the purpose for which the Almighty God had sent Pa Kabbah to us was fulfilled.
I witnessed His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma pay a well deserved tribute to our departed father, Pa Kabbah in parliament last Friday. Thank you for rising above the typical party POLITRICKS in speaking the truth and letting the world know about some of Pa Kabbah’s many sacrifices and contributions towards the progress and development of our beloved Mama Salone
Thank you President Koroma for the support you’ve shown his family. Today you’ve done this for Pa Kabbah. Tomorrow we shall do it for you.
I am grateful for all the wonderful tributes being paid to him. My only regret is that I wish he could have witnessed more of this when he was alive. I wish I could have visited him more often after his presidency. I wish I could have produced more songs in his honor before now. I wish we all could have seen his goodness and appreciated him much more when he was alive.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity of knowing you Pa Kabbah. Until we meet again on the beautiful shores of paradise, I say adieus and may your soul rest in blessed peace.
The author is the pioneer of modern day Sierra Leonean music. He delivered this speech on the occasion of the funeral for the late former Alhaji Dr Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, 23 March 2014
(C) Politico 25/03/14
