In what one observer has described as “stunningly unprecedented” retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Cornelius Augustine Harding has done the unbelievable by willingly parting with over one billion Leones of his personal wealth and giving it out to deserving individuals and institutions.
This is arguably the biggest ever donation by one individual in one day in the history of Sierra Leone.
This astounding show of philanthropy was played out at the Terrace of the Lagoonda complex last Saturday 4th February when the 85 year old celebrated the 60th anniversary of his call to the degree of an Utter Barrister (Bar) by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, London in February 1952.
Justice Harding said that after the ceremony then, he prayed to God that if he could give him 20 years to work he will do a lot “now he has given me 60 years for which I am very grateful.”
Resplendent in his formal manila coat and white shirt, floral bow tie and black apron Justice Harding marched to the drum beat of the Prince of Wales School band before he took his seat at the high table.
Recalling his journey after he was called to the Bar, Justice Harding said he first worked as magistrate in almost all of the districts in the country and in 1966 he was appointed as Quasi Judge now referred to as High Court Judge and later Supreme Court Judge.
In the jam packed terrace with mostly lawyers, magistrates and judges in the audience, the retired judge spoke frankly saying that the “judiciary is weak and that is my honest opinion because the way we used to work is not the same now and the judges are responsible for that. They have to set a brighter example. They should go to work on time, don’t allow yourself to be corrupted by anyone. I am not saying they should not make mistakes but they should make honest mistakes.”
“I am very happy that I have survived 60 years in the profession and I believe I have excelled in what I have done” he said.
He then went on to make his philanthropic gesture. To the Sierra Leone Law School he gave a draft of fifty million Leones (Le 50,000,000,); Ballanta Academy he gave two hundred and fifty million Leones (Le. 250,000,000,). To Fourah Bay College he gave a draft of two hundred and fifty million Leones (Le250,000,000,); and the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) he gave the largest donation of five hundred million Leones (500,000,000,). To the Sierra Leone Children’s Home he gave a draft of ten million Leones (Le 10,000,000,); the Nursery School Association of Sierra Leone also got ten million Leones (Le10,000,000,); the Milton Margai School for the Blind got ten million Leones (Le10, 000,000,) and the School for the Deaf and Dumb also got ten million (Le 10,000,000,). Rev. Marie Yansaneh Orphanage and School ten million Leones (Le 10,000,000,); Society for the Aged ten million Leones (Le 10,000,000,) Dyck Harding Scholarship Fund ten million Leones (Le 10,000,000,) Sierra Leone Grammar School ten million Leones (Le10,000,000,) Diaspora Interdenominational Services for Counselling ten million Leones (Le 10,000,000,) Pikin Bizness ten million Leones (Le 10,000,000,) Distinguished Grand Lodge of Sierra Leone and the Gambia twenty million Leones (Le 20,000,000) and two and half plot of land to the Saint George’s Cathedral.
The Chief Executive Officer James Sampha Koroma of Union Trust Bank where all the money was saved by Justice Harding said they are very happy for such a gesture by a Sierra Leonean as this is the first in the history of the country that such a donation is being made by a single individual.
He urged the recipients of the draft who do not have an account with the Union Trust Bank to open one soon as this will enable them attract no charges as the draft will just be deposited into their various accounts.
Giving a toast to the health of the Host, George Coleridge-Taylor Esq. said that there are lots of people who went through the process but they have not celebrated such a day even if they have reached such a climax they have not celebrated it this way.
George Coleridge-Taylor Esq. maintained that Justice Harding “is a man of excellence in whatever he engages in, and whatever engages him and he is always full of surprises even at his birth.”
At a little after 12 midnight and into the early hours of 5th February a proud Justice Harding with four of his children present two of whom were lawyers told the audience that he was actually called to the Bar on the 5th of February 1952.
The 85 year old retired Judge will thus go down in the history books as the first Sierra Leonean to in a single day donate one billion one hundred and seventy million Leones (Le1,170,000,000) of his personal wealth, making him the biggest local philanthropist the country has ever seen.
The question most people asked as they left the ceremony in awe of what had transpired was are there other Sierra Leoneans who will follow this example?
By Betty Milton
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