Bo District is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the Southern Province of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. It is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Bo District is the second most populous district in Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is the city of Bo, which is also the second most populous city in Sierra Leone. Other major towns in the district include Baoma, Bumpeh, Serabu, Sumbuya,

Baiima Baiima is a small town in Bo District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Gu ...

and Yele. Bo District borders Kenema District to the east, Tonkolili District to the north, Moyamba District to the west,

Bonthe District Bonthe District is a district that comprises several islands and mainland of the Atlantic Ocean in the Southern Province, Sierra Leone, Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Bonthe is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Its capital is the t ...

to the southwest and Pujehun District to the south. The district population as of 2015 is 574,201. Bo District occupies a total area of 5,219 km² and is subdivided into fifteen chiefdoms. The population of Bo District is mainly from the Mende ethnic group, though the city of Bo has a very ethnic diverse population.

Government

Bo District has its own directly elected

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

called the District Council, and is where the executive and legislative authority is vested at the local level within Bo District. The Bo District Council is headed by a council chairman, who is an elected official and is responsible for the general management of the district. The current council chairman of Bo District is Joseph Munda Bindi of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), following his election victory in the 2018 Sierra Leone local election. The city of Bo also has its own directly elected

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

headed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. The current mayor of Bo is Harold Logie Tucker; he is a member of the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). Bo District is a stronghold of the ruling Sierra Leone People's Party.

Members of Parliament of Sierra Leone from Bo District

Bo District currently has twelve representatives in the Parliament of Sierra Leone, of which eleven members were elected for a 5-year term in the 2007 general elections. The district is a stronghold of the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The following is a list of Bo District's representatives and affiliations:

Demographics

Ethnicity

The population of Bo District is ethnically and culturally diverse, particularly in the city of Bo, Sierra Leone's second largest city. The

Mende people The Mende are one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone; their neighbours, the Temne people, constitute the largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, ethnic group at 35.5% of the total population, which is slightly larger than the Mende ...

form the largest ethnic group in Bo District at over 60 percent of the population.

Religion

Economy

With Bo being the second largest city in Sierra Leone,

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

are major economic activities for the district; as well as agricultural production of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

growing, and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

, cacao and

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms, called oil palms, containing two species, native to Africa and the Americas. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. Description Mature palms are single-stemmed, and can gro ...

Education

Bo District is home to 385 Primary Schools and 40 Secondary Schools. Bo Government Secondary School, commonly called Bo School is among the 40 secondary schools in Bo District. The school was founded in 1906 by Leslie Probyn to educate the children of Bo District. The school has a long history of developing the elite of Sierra Leone, especially the country's

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Recovery after Civil War

Bo District suffered badly at the hands of rebel forces during 1994–1995, and many major towns were almost entirely destroyed ( Tikonko and Bumpe, for example). However, since the ousting of the Junta in early 1998, Bo District has remained secure, due mainly to the strong presence of the Civil Defence Forces. As such, rather than suffering from displacement, Bo District has been the recipient of displaced persons from less secure parts of the country. Although aid agencies have had uninterrupted access to the district for five years because of its relative stability, most of the recovery efforts were concentrated in Bo Town leaving out the 8 sections in Kakua chiefdom as well as all the other 14 chiefdoms in the district. The major recovery needs according to sectoral priorities are as follows: road rehabilitation, education, water and sanitation, health, agriculture, restoration of local government structures, and shelter.

Administrative divisions

Chiefdoms

Pre-2017

Prior to the 2017 local administrative reorganization, Bo District was made up of fifteen chiefdoms as the third level of administrative subdivision. # Badjia – Ngelehun # Bagbo – Jimmi # Bagbwe – Ngarlu # Baoma – Baoma # Bumpe–Gao – Bumpe # Gbo – Gbo # Jaiama Bongor – Telu # Kakua – Kakua # Komboya – Njala # Lugbu – Sumbuya # Niawa Lenga – Nengbema # Selenga – Dambala # Tikonko – Tikonko # Valunia – Mongere # Wonde – Gboyama

Post-2017

After the 2017 local administrative reorganization, Bo District has made up of seventeen chiefdoms as the third level of administrative subdivision. # Badjia – Ngelehun # Bagbo – Jimmi # Bagbwe – Ngarlu # Baoma – Baoma # Bongor – Telu # Bumpe–Gao – Bumpe # Gbo – Gbo # Jaiama – ? # Kakua – Kakua # Komboya – Njala # Lugbu – Sumbuya # Niawa Lenga – Nengbema # Selenga – Dambala # Tikonko – Tikonko # Valunia – Mongere # Wonde – Gboyama # Bo City – Bo ;Notes:

Major towns

* Bo, capital and largest city * Boama * Serabu * Bumpe * Mongeri, second largest town * Sumbuya *

* Tikonko * Gondama

Towns and villages

* Bambima * Bandeh * Bumbe * Koribondo * Mamboma *

Mange Mange () is a type of skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Because various species of mites also infect plants, birds and reptiles, the term "mange", or colloquially "the mange", suggesting poor condition of the skin and fur due to the infecti ...

* Momboma * Sembehun * Telu * Tokoronko * Jimmi Bagbo * Mondorkor * Gandohun -Tikonko * Gondama

Notable people from Bo District

* Solomom Berewa, former vice president of Sierra Leone * Joe Robert Pemagbi, Sierra Leone ambassador to the UN * Aluspah Brewah, football star * Hinga Norman, politician * Joseph Henry Ganda, archbishop * Emerson Samba, football star * Edward Jeffrey Boima, I.T. Technician, Administrator. former I.T. Lecturer Sulisha Institute of Management and Technology. Cureent Administrative Secretary for Sierra Leone Association of Cassava Producers and Processors * Chief Joe Lahai Boima Gbondo, chiefdom administrative court speaker, judges * Cllr. Edmond Koroma, accountant, politician * Prof. Dr. Jia Bainga Kangbai, academic, reputable journalist

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070121122533/http://www.statehouse-sl.org/member-parliament.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20070928043611/http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_20052169.shtml * https://web.archive.org/web/20061129153754/http://www.directrelief.org/sections/our_work/notes_sierra_leone.html * Parts of this article reproduced with permission from http://www.daco-sl.org {{Districts of Sierra Leone Districts of Sierra Leone Southern Province, Sierra Leone