TEGLOMA FEDERATION INC
MINI-CONVENTION 2012
BOARD CHAIRMAN ALHAJI ALIEU MUSTAPHA'S REPORT
Honorable board members, Administration Chairman Alfred Moi Jamiru, members of Tegloma, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of my wife Madam Rose Mustapha, my family and my board executive, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for giving me this great privilege to serve as your federation board chairman, the most senior job in the federation these past four years.
These past four years have been both challenging and rewarding and though we have had some tough times, I have not regretted one minute of it. If I had the opportunity to be board chairman, I will do it all over again.
During my term of office as Chairman of the Tegloma Federation Board we encountered many problems and had to deal with many issues. However I am proud to report that my four years as chairman of the board of directors of this great organization, which we all love, has been very successful.
When I took up the responsibility of chairman the first task we set ourselves was to resuscitate some of our struggling chapters. One of the first chapters we tried to bring back into the federation was the Toronto chapter that had been missing from many of our important occasions. We identified the leaders of the chapter and worked with them to bring them back on board the federation. Today we are proud to report that Tegloma Toronto chapter, is one of the greatest and most active chapters in the federation. Together with the administration chairman Alfred Moi Jamiru we have been able to revive the Freetown chapter of Tegloma, which was very dormant for close to ten years. Today the Freetown chapter has a brand new executive and will be our eyes and ears on the ground in Sierra Leone.
I am also proud to report that we have worked with the administration to bring in two more new and vibrant chapters into the federation. The Missouri Chapter headed by Chief Mbriwa was inaugurated two years ago in Saint Louis, Missouri and is today a major chapter in the federation that has been able to participate in all federation activities. Our newest Chapter Tegloma Gambia, was inaugurated in West Africa by myself and Chief Jamiru, in Serekunda, the Gambia in the early part of this year. The gambia Chapter is very strong and has spread the name of Tegloma to another African country, besides Sierra Leone.
One of my greatest achievements as chairman of the board was helping to find a resolution to the problems in Tegloma Dallas that almost split the chapter apart. Members of the Dallas chapter had two major conflicts which involved the hosting of the federation convention and the election of the chapter president. Regarding the convention, there were two camps, those in favor of hosting the convention and those against it. The administration tried to solve the problem but were unable and brought it to the board. The board worked with the administration to allow the chapter to host the convention, but the decision did not go down well with some members. However, the Dallas convention was able to go on successfully with the full support of the federation. After the convention the chapter was supposed to have executive elections, but there was a major problem between supporters of the two candidates for chapter president. The problem got so bad that meetings were ending in quarrels and physical confrontation. The federation board was able to work with the administration and send peacemakers to help set guidelines for the election and also sent election monitors to help ensure that the election was held peacefully, and the results were free and fair, and acceptable to all the two parties. We are pleased to report that today Tegloma Dallas has a new president Madam Josephine Ladipo and the chapter is united behind her.
For years we have all heard about the Tegloma land in Bo, but almost every year a new problem came up with regard to the real ownership of the land. I am pleased to report that under my leadership, the ownership of the land has been finally settled, and it now belongs wholly and solely to Tegloma 100%! We were able to work with the former vice president of Sierra Leone, Dr. Joe Demby to get all the proper papers and documents confirming our ownership of the land and also get the original owners of the land to give us full ownership and blessing without any condition. The only problem that any future board chairman will have is deciding what to do with the land. However, the land is situated in a prime spot and we need to maintain the land by brushing it regularly and having a caretaker look after it, so that nobody encroaches on the land.
During my term I was able to personally visit all the chapters in USA and Canada to lend them support during inaugurations and other important activities and was also able to attend every single convention of Tegloma. I also made it easy for the board to meet regularly by arranging for meetings to be held by teleconference. This enabled us to address important issues without necessarily waiting for annual conventions. Going forward I will recommend the federation to use more technology to communicate with members in order to reduce the cost of travel and save the federation money.
Ladies and gentlemen, we all know that Tegloma is now a 501 (C) (3) organization. This means that we no longer just promote our culture, but most importantly we help those who are in need or who are less privileged than us. Over the years I have been chairman, we have continued giving scholarships to needy students in Sierra Leone and am proud to report that just this year, we were able to award 41 full scholarships to every region of the country. This year with the help of the Indiana chapter, we were also able to ship a 40 ft container worth of valuable medical supplies and I personally distributed them to Moyamba and Kenema hospitals in Sierra Leone.
We did not also forget that Tegloma is a cultural organization. We supported the decision of chief Jamiru to make official staffs for every chief in the federation and also made a new federation staff to replace the old one that was almost falling apart.
Today I am proud to report that the Tegloma I am leaving as chairman has more chapters and is a more united organization than the one I inherited.
However, in spite of all our successes there is still work to be done. Though we have tried our level best, the Wisconsin, Reading, Manitoba and London chapters are not very active in the federation. We have started moves to reactivate these chapters and I plead with the incoming chairman not to give up at all, as these are chapters with great potential in the federation. We also set up a committee of very knowledgeable people to review our constitution and the committee is still working on the task and I will ask the incoming board executive to work with them and speedily review the constitution to address the loopholes and gray areas in this very important guiding document. We also set up an audit committee in Atlanta, but I had to leave for Sierra Leone and my secretaries were both not active at the time for personal reasons and were unable to work with the committee. I will encourage the incoming executive to work with the audit committee to do an audit of the organization as soon as possible.
I would not have achieved all these successes that I have outlined, without the help of many people. On behalf of my executive and myself, I would like to thank the land committee for helping us acquire the land. Special thanks to Chairman Aloysius Foh and Chairman Sandy for starting the land process. We also thank Dr. Joe Demby for a marvelous job in helping us finally get the full rights to the land.
I would also like to thank the current administration chairman Alfred Moi Jamiru for working closely with me to do the work of Tegloma over the past years.
I am grateful to all the members of my board executive for their patience and support and promise them that we would always remain to be family and friends.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart my partner and lifelong friend, Mrs Rose Mustapha, without whose endless love, encouragement and support, I would not have been able to serve this federation as faithfully as I did.
I thank you all for your love of Tegloma and family and urge everyone here to do all they can to make this great organization better.
Long Live Tegloma
Long Live Sierra Leone
Alhaji Alieu Mustapha
Chairman BOD
Tegloma Federation International
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