One of Sierra Leone’s greatest warriors who fought his way for the freedom of his people from the Colonial masters, Bai Bureh real photograph has been discovered.
This find now puts the so many controversies on his face to rest.
This information was on Tuesday disclosed in a press briefing held at the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs conference hall.
Gary Schulze, the co-discoverer of this historic photo, disclosed that he discovered the photo on eBay, the online auction house past August, together with his long-time friend, William Hart, a former lecturer at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland who also noticed the photo on the same website, and that they both collect antique art, artifacts, documents and photos relating to Sierra Leone, as they knew instantly that this was something rare-the only known photograph of Bai Bureh.
He maintained that, they both co-ordinated their effort not to bid against each other for the photo but a professional document dealer in London placed the bid that won the photograph, as they immediately sent a message to the dealer through eBay, offering significantly more than what he had paid for it during the bidding which the dealer accepted.
The said picture, as displayed to members of the press, shows Bai Bureh sitting in a relaxed manner with his hands folded on his lap, looking slightly away from the camera wearing his trade mark ‘ronko’ gown and a small embroidered Muslim hat, and the inscribed words underneath the photo reads ‘Bai Bureh, Chief of the Timini, when a prisoner at Sierra Leone in 1898, an original photograph by Lieutenant Arthur Greer, West Indian Regiment who died August 7th 1900, when storming a blockade after the relief of Kumassie’.
According to Schulze, the inscription on the photo is quite convincing to confirm its authenticity beyond the smallest doubt, but Hart was able to locate even more solid evidence by tracing the photographer who took the shot, Lt. Greer, to a village in Northern Ireland where his descendants still live in the same house, as they allowed him to look at a stack of letters Greer wrote to his family during his military service abroad, including Sierra Leone’s Hut Tax War and he was able to read a letter written in 1898 in which Greer described the circumstances in which he took the photo.
The Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Peter Bayuku Konteh, states that the discovery of the photo is great news for the country, as the Ministry is happy to disclose the information to the rest of the people to discourage the many distorted images of Bai Bureh, adding that the photo will be taken to all the Chiefdoms around the country after Schulze will have officially presented it to President Koroma in two weeks time.
He said that Schulze will be crowned Paramount Chief in Shenghe, in appreciation of his contribution to the country’s historical development, as Schulze started his historian work in 1962, as history teacher at the Albert Academy School, and contributed immensely in the establishment of the Sierra Leone Museum.