A Titan Remembered: The Enduring Legacy of Justice Benneh Kamara…
From the Newsprint to the Bench; A Life Dedicated to Justice and Truth
By David Jabati
In a nation where true statesmanship is forged through quiet diligence and unshakable integrity, the passing of Justice Dr. Abu Bakar Muhamed Binneh Kamara echoes like the final line of a well-written editorial; poignant, purposeful, and impossible to ignore.
Justice Kamara’s life was a tapestry woven with the twin threads of truth and justice. His career bridged two of society’s most sacred institutions: the media and the judiciary. While many knew him in his later years as a formidable presence on the Bench, a calm yet commanding voice of reason in the temple of justice; few remember that his journey began with ink-stained fingers and an unwavering commitment to truth.
It was the Pen before the Gavel. As a university student with a sharp mind and a sharper pen, Binneh Kamara contributed to the print media through The Exclusive newspaper; a platform that served as both his training ground and a source of earning that also contributed to his educational pursuit. Alongside his lifelong friend and future human rights advocate, Lawyer Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, Kamara helped shape the intellectual and investigative fabric of the paper in its early formative stage.
But it was in the courtroom where Kamara’s clarity of thought and moral compass shone most brilliantly. He brought with him not just legal acumen but a journalist’s sense of truth.
His colleagues (both in the media and judiciary)will recall him not only as a brilliant jurist, but as a man of principle; undaunted by pressure. His decisions will remain etched in Sierra Leone’s legal annals; his legacy, in the minds of those who believe in a just society.
He served the newsroom, courtroom and classroom with diligence. The many journalists who passed through him are left with clear insight on media ethics and law as they continue to exhibit the legacy of Binneh in the media landscape.
Kamara was a voice that never wavered. To those who worked with him at The Exclusive, including the Proprietor/Managing Editor, Sheik Sesay, Justice Kamara never ceased to be “Binneh the Journalist;”a man who questioned deeply, wrote boldly, and lived fearlessly. Regardless of his envied position as Justice of the Appeal Court, Binneh will always visit The Exclusive newsroom to pay homage. For which all of us at The Exclusive remain grateful. For him, the pen and the gavel were not opposing tools, but complementary instruments in the symphony of public service.
As Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai recently reflected, “Binneh never left journalism; he simply brought its ethics into the courtroom. His judgments were editorials in justice; truth told plainly, with reason and resolve.”
Justice Binneh Kamara now belongs to the ages, but the institutions he touched- the press, the courts, and the hearts of those who believe in fairness; are better for his presence. As we mourn his passing, we also celebrate a life that reminds us that justice is not just found in law books or verdicts, but in the fearless telling of truth, wherever it needs to be heard.
May he rest in power, and may his memory continue to guide both the pen and the gavel.
