January 29, 2018 By Mohamed Massaquoi
Mourners gathered at St. Francis Xavier Parish to bid Hon. Kposowa farewell
The remains of the late Hon. Frank Kposowa was over the weekend laid to rest at Benduma village in Bagbwe Chiefdom, Bo district, southern Sierra Leone.
Hundreds of mourners from across the country and abroad, including presidential candidate for the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, converged at the St. Francis Xavier Parish last Friday (26th January) to give their last respect to the journalist-cum-politician.
The late Hon. Kposowa, according to his closed allies, was called Oba – a name he appreciated with respect and passion. Kposowa was very versatile in various spheres of life and his contributions to nation-building in diverse ways will never be forgotten – even among his colleagues in the media.
He left Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone in 1976 and served as a teacher at the Muslim Brotherhood Secondary School in Freetown. While teaching, he tried his hand in the field of journalism by contributing to the Unity Newspaper under the editorship of the late Julius Cole.
Dominic Lamin, a close friend of the late Hon. Kposowa, narrated that in 1977 Frank joined Pios Foray, Hindolo Tyre, Riche Olu Gordon and others too many to mention, including Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo to do the normal journalistic work.
In the political turmoil of 1977-1978, Lamin continued in his tribute, Siaka Steven’s government clamped down hard on the Tablet Newspaper, it offices were fire-bombed and Frank Koposowa was arrested, beaten severally and abandoned for dead.
At the Connaught hospital, it was discovered that he was still alive. The nurses saved his life by hiding him in the female ward at night, away from the Stevens thugs.
“During the nationwide Labour unrest in 1981, Pios Foray, the late Hindolo Tyre and others left the country for America and that was the end of The Tablet Newspaper. Kortor IB Kargbo launched the New Citizen Newspaper and the late Frank Kposowa joined him,” Lamin said in his tribute to Kposowa.
Hon. Kposowa became President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists for two terms, during which he was also elected president of the sub-regional journalists organisation – West Africa Journalists Association – a position he held for two terms.
He was on his way to his constituency in Bo district when he got killed in a gruesome motor accident on 11th January, 2018.