Paramount Chief Ella Koblo Gulama OBE, GCOR, was a trailblazing Sierra Leonean paramount chief and politician. In 1957, she became the first elected female Member of Parliament in Sierra Leone and was re-elected in 1962. During Milton Margai’s government, she became the first female Cabinet Minister in Sierra Leone and sub-Saharan Africa.
Gulama represented Sierra Leone internationally, traveling across Africa, Europe, North America, and the Middle East. In 1957, she toured the United States as a guest of the State Department and met Vice-President Richard Nixon.
Her political career was marked by pioneering achievements and dedicated service. She was a member of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), which her father helped establish. In 1957, she became a Member of the Moyamba District Council and the first woman elected to Sierra Leone’s House of Representatives as Paramount Chief Member for Moyamba District. She was re-elected in 1962 and appointed as a Cabinet Minister by Prime Minister Milton Margai. From 1960 to 1967, she served as President of the Federation of Women’s Organisations in Sierra Leone.
During her chieftaincy, she improved Moyamba’s infrastructure by paving streets and installing clean tap water with the help of a British construction company.
In the 1967 general elections, Gulama regained her seat and served in Sir Albert Margai’s government. However, a power struggle between the SLPP and the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) led to political instability and a series of military coups.