EU funded Mabang Bridge which was commissioned last week, has been renamed to Ella Koblo Gulama Bridge by the Government of Sierra Leone.
Born in January 1921, Ella Koblo Gulama was a female Paramount Chief and politician who became the first elected female member of Parliament; the first female cabinet minister under the governance of the first Prime Minister in Sierra Leone. She also served as President of the Federation of Women's Organization in Sierra Leone.
The first female MP in Sierra Leone was educated at Harford School for girls in Moyamba, and furthered her education in Fourah Bay College. She got married in 1944 to Paramount Chief Bai Koblo Pathbana II of Marampa, an ethnic Temne in Masimera Chiefdom.
Ella Koblo was a widely travelled politician who represented Sierra Leone in many parts of Africa, Europe, North America and the Middle East. In 1957, she met with US Vice President, Richard Nixon as a guest of the State Department, spending for 4 months in the US.
The 231 metre double-lane bridge which cost 11.7 million Euros, connects Ribbi Chiefdom, Moyamba District in the South and Koya Chiefdom, Port Loko District, the North.
The colonial structure of Mabang Bridge, now renamed, Ella Koblo Gulama Bridge which connects the South and the Northern part of Sierra Leone collapsed in February 2013 after a truck loaded with local produce summersaulted and plunged into the river, leaving dozens injured and disrupting social and economic activities between the two chiefdoms.
Reconstruction of the bridge had resumed normal travelling in that part of the country, reduce travel time, vehicle operating costs, and accidents between Moyamba and Western Urban districts and has the potential to boost economic activities that have long been impeded in those areas.
It is also essential for trade, health, academic and social activities; linking many towns, villages and chiefdoms between south and the northern part of the country.
The recently commissioned Ella Koblo Gulama Bridge is part of the 48 million Euros Moyamba-Moyamba Junction Roads and Bridges project funded under the 11th European Union Development Fund. The project includes construction of 32.8 km Moyamba Town and Moyamba Junction road, 36-metre span Gbangbama Bridge, 42-metre span Moyamba Bridge and the already constructed 163-metre length Magbele Bridge.
