Ezekiel A. Coker says:

Dear Editor,

I have greatly enjoyed reading COKORIOKO as I find it most informative of news from Sierra Leone. I should congratulate you for your efforts to keep us Sierra Leoneans in America informed of news back home as well as activities of Sierra Leoneans here in America.

I have been reading the comments in your newspaper about the SIERRA LEONE DAILY MAIL. But there seemed to have been some confusion about the origin and management of this newspaper. I wish therefore, if I may, to clarify some of the apparent confusion over this newspaper. It is unfortunate that history of various aspects of Sierra Leone is not properly documented or in most cases not documented at all. If the history of the Sierra Leone Daily Mail had been fully documented, then there would not have been some of the hitherto confusing comments about this newspaper.

I do sincerely hope that my following comments will not in any way be misconstrued and viewed as controversial. My primary aim is to educate. Needless to say, I am an octogenarian.

The Sierra Leone Daily Mail is the oldest daily newspaper in Sierra Leone. When I was growing up I the thirties, the Daily Mail was already being published and it was then a prestigious newspaper. In fact that there were only two main daily newspapers in Freetown then. These were THE SIERRA LEONE DAILY MAIL with the editorial office and printing press at Howe Street. The other newspaper was the DAILY GUARDIAN with its editorial office and printing press at Percival Street, Freetown.

The proprietor of the Daily Mail then, if I remember well, was owned by Pa Thompson of Wilberforce. I have now forgotten his first name. When he died, the management of this then popular and prestigious newspaper was taken over by his son Dephon Thompson who I believe was a lawyer.

Probably through lack of funds, this newspaper had by the fifties declined. The British Daily Mirror group of newspapers in Britain (If I remember well) saw the potential of this newspaper and so took it over, introduced proper and dynamic management, infused much needed money in it and installed modern printing machines. A new building to house the printing press, the editorial office as well as to provide residence for the General Manager was constructed at Rawdon Street, Freetown. The new company which took over the Daily Mail then provided their own General Manager from Britain. But I believe that the new company still retained one or two of the relatives of the late Pa Thompson as shareholders and one was a Director of this new company.

This newspaper was soon drastically reorganized and given a proper face-lift. This newspaper then became the best modern daily newspaper in Sierra Leone

The British General Manager was later on relieved by the late Tommy Blake who was my contemporary and schoolmate at St. Edward’s Secondary School, Freetown. Mr. Tommy Blake was later relieved by Mr. Patrick Kojo Patnelli (his popular name was “Kojo”) now of blessed memory (and NOT Kojo Nelli as I saw one writer termed him). He was my junior school-mate at St. Edward’s Secondary School. He was also one of my casual friends. Despite I have great respect for him, yet as I have already pointed out, Patrick Kojo Patnelli was not the first General Manager of the Sierra Leone Daily Mail.

I have now forgotten who relieved the late Patrick Kojo Poatnelli as General Manager, but at one time the late Herbert Johnson was also General Manager as well as Babs-Kassim.

I have also forgotten under what circumstances the government of Sierra Leone decided to buy this newspaper so that it could become the voice of the government.

This newspaper later suffered from dearth of funds and effective management and it eventually became moribund.

I have decided to narrate the foregoing based on what I knew of the Sierra Leone Daily Mail. I do hope that the foregoing will educate readers on our illustrious newspaper.

Sincerely,

Ezekiel A. Coker