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Alhaji Dr. med. Sheik-Umarr Mikailu Jah
Dr. S.U.M. Jah, as the President of the Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association, in November 1991.
Minister of Health, Sierra Leone
In office 16 January 1996 – 29 March 1996
Head of State	Julius Maada Bio
Preceded by	Dr. Jibril
Succeeded by	Dr. Tejan-Jalloh
Minister/Commissioner of National Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Sierra Leone
In office 29 March 1996 – 1999
Head of State	Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Succeeded by	Kanja Sesay
Minister of Works and Technical Maintenance, Sierra Leone
In office 1999–2001
Head of State	Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Minister of State for Southern Region, Sierra Leone
In office 2001 – 17 September 2007
Head of State	Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Personal details
Born	(1935-08-22)22 August 1935 Pujehun, Sierra Leone
Died	2 August 2024(2024-08-02) (aged 88) Osnabrück, Germany
Resting place	Pujehun (planned 30 Augustus, 2024)
Political party	Sierra Leone People's Party
Spouse	Betti Elisabeth Beckmann-Jah ​ ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	1 (with spouse), 1 (prior relationship)
Parent(s)	Mother: Madam Hawa Bellay Suaray Father: Mikailu Jah, Paramount Chief of Kpanga Kabonde
Residence(s)	Bo, Sierra Leone Lienen, Germany
Alma mater	Bo School University of Bonn, Medicine University of Bonn, Dr. med. Essen, Surgery Residency
Profession	Surgeon & Politician

Alhaji Dr. med. Sheik-Umarr Mikailu Jah (22 August 1935 - 02 August 2024), commonly known as Dr. S.U.M. Jah, was a Sierra Leonean public servant, trained as a surgeon in Germany and one of the few medical specialist working in Sierra Leone through-out the civil war, and later a politician who served as a minister of Sierra Leone for 11 years, from 1996-2007. In 2006 he contracted Lassa fever, was flown to Germany for medical treatment, and never fully recovered.

Early life

Sheik-Umarr Mikailu Jah was born on 22 August 1935, in Pujehun Hospital, to Paramount Chief Mikailu Jah, a Mende-Fula, and Madam Hawa Bellay Suaray, a Madingo. He was delivered by Sir Milton Magai, First Protectorate Medical Doctor of Sierra Leone and later First Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. He was born in Pujehun, a village in the Kpanga Kabonde Chiefdom, Pujehun District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. He was born into an Islamic family, recited the Koran in Arabic, and lived his life as a Muslim. A a requirement for primary school entry he was baptized Simion and as an alter boy excelled at reciting Christian texts in Latin. Jah had one full sibling, his sister Christiana Salematu Jah (born ~1943, died Dec 2012). His father had multiple wives and it is unknown how many half-siblings he had.

Jah began his primary education at the Koran School in Pujehun, where he was a student from 1944-1946 under Imam Sidie Yayah Touray, stopping in Yusuf. From 1947 he was at the Holy Family Primary School in Pujehun up to Standard 4. In 1950 he then completed Standard 5 and the Common Entrance Examination at St. Francis Primary School in Bo.

For secondary education, Jah was at the Bo Government Secondary School in Bo (commonly known as Bo School), a prominent boarding school, from 1951-1959. At the time, the school was exclusively for sons and nominees of Paramount Chiefs. His admission number was #1027. Initially he was at Manchester House, and later at Paris House where he was the Senior Prefect. As a runner he held many longstanding records. Up to Form 5 he completed the Cambridge Higher School Certificate (Marks: “Second Division”). In Form 6 he took exclusively science subjects, completing A-levels in biology, physics, chemistry, and zoology.

He started his career as a science teacher and taught for 3 years in secondary schools: Christ the King’s College Bo, Bo School, and Prince of Wales Freetown.

Medical career

Jah was offered two scholarships from the Government of Sierra Leone, initially to study forestry in the United Kingdom, which he turned down, and later to study medicine in Germany, which he accepted. On 13 December, 1961, in Freetown he boarded the mail vessel "Apapa" from Lagos, and after 8 days, including a stop in Banjul where he visited Suaray relatives, he arrived in Liverpool. He then took the Boat Train to London, where he spent New Year's, before boarding a plane from Gatwick to Köln Bonn Airport on 2 January, 1962. He then took the train to Bad Aibling, where at the Goethe-Institut he completed a 4 month German language training program, during which time “he never saw the earth as it was covered in snow”.

He commenced his medical studies at Bonn Friedrich Wilhelm University, in the summer semester April/May 1962 and graduated 19 February, 1968 with marks for the Staatsexamen “Note 2”. During his studies he lived at Hermannstraße 1, Bonn-Beuel. After Physikum he went to Heidelberg for one semester under Prof. Lindner, surgeon.

During his time as junior house officer (“Medizinalassistent”) he worked for 2 years with no pay in Bonn. In 1970, he completed his Dr. med. thesis in ophthalmology, titled “Dye detection in tissues and fluids of the bodies and eyes of rabbits after intravenous fluorescein sodium injection” under Prof. Hermann, graduating with marks “Note 1, Summa cum laude”.

He specialized as a general surgeon with an interest in orthopedics from 1970-1975 in North Rhine-Westphalia under Prof. Major, working in hospitals in Essen, Solingen, Velbert, Siegburg, and Waldbröl.

He worked as a senior surgeon in Essen 1975-1979, Connaught Hospital Freetown 1979-1981, and Bo Government Hospital 1981-1996.

Political career

Jah was a long term member of the Sierra Leone People's Party, and its deputy leader. He was described "as the people's servant who has over the years championed their cause" with "respect and love he has for his people".

After serving as the Chairman of the National Power Authority, he was appointed Minister of Health in Julius Maada Bio's temporal government 16 January 1996 – 29 March 1996.

Consecutively, upon the election of Prime Minister Kabbah, he served as the inaugural Minister of National Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, until the Ministry became a Commission in November 1998, after which he was the Commissioner until 1999.. The work was interrupted by a coup d'état from 25 May 1997 - 12 February 1998. In this role, he made significant contributions to the reconstruction of Sierra Leone following the civil war, including reports to the United Nations: "urgent support was also needed for the return, resettlement and reintegration of nearly 500,000 Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea and Liberia" and "that over 3,000 villages and towns destroyed by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) guerrillas and 1,700 educational facilities, 400 health centres and 3,000 wells needed to be rehabilitated or rebuilt."

Successively, he was the Minister of Works and Technical Maintenance, 1999-2001.

Finally, he served as Minister of State for Southern Region, 2001 - 17 September 20007.

Public Service

In the early 1950's, Jah was a founding member of what later would be renamed to the Pujehun District Development Association. The founding board consisted of Dr. S.U.M Jah (president), Dr. Joe A. Nuni (secretary), Abu Sama (vice-president), Andrew Kaikai (treasurer). The organization strives to further the development of Pujehun District, and has active branches in Sierra Leone, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Germany. 75 years after its founding, the organization continues to play a major part in the district.

In 1987, Jah and his wife were founding members of Paupers' Kitchen and Clinic (PKC), a community based organization in Bo, with the mission to provide hot meals, medical care and educational support for the neediest cases within the community.

In 1988, Jah was a founding member of the Rotary Club Bo. The founding board included Emmanuel Shears Moses (president), and Dr. S.U.M. Jah (vice-president). The following year Jah succeeded Shears Moses as president.

During 1991-1993, Jah was the President of the Sierra Leone Medical & Dental Association.

For 3 years, including 2001-2002, Jah was the President of the Old Bo Boys Association, the alumni association of a prestigious boarding school in Bo, Sierra Leone.

Personal life

Sheik met Betti Elisabeth Beckmann-Jah in “Kaiser Café” in Bonn on the day of his last exam of medical school, 13 February, 1968. They married 19 November, 1982, in Lienen, Germany. With Betti he has one daughter, and from a previous relationship he has one daughter whom he met when she was 21 years old.

Jah moved back to Sierra Leone in 1979 and his wife followed in 1980. Their daughter was born in 1982 during a temporary stay in Germany. They all remained in Sierra Leone together until April 1991, when his wife and daughter had to flea to Germany due to the invasion of the rebels. In November 1991, Sheik travelled to Germany and brought his wife and daughter back to Sierra Leone. In 1992, his wife and daughter had to move to Germany for health reasons.

In 1994 Petrol Silla told Jah the Revolutionary United Front soldiers were looking for him, they wanted to make him a minister. In the night his nephew Abdul went to Freetown to get Jah's passport. Jah fled the next day to Guinea disguised as a market lady in the back row of a podapoda. At a checkpoint, one of the policemen in charge recognized Jah as their doctor and let him go against the orders he had received. He slept the night on the border and then from Guinee continued immediately to Germany.

In 2001, Jah undertook Hadj to Mecca.

In July 2006, he contracted Lassa fever encephalitis and was flown to Germany for medical treatment. At the time it was thought he had cerebral malaria and he was escorted to Munster University Hospital by his wife. Once the diagnosis Lassa fever was made, he was transported to Frankfurt University Hospital for high-level isolation intensive care. He remained in a coma from July-October 2006 and was discharged from hospital before Christmas 2006. In January 2007 he started rehabilitation at Clinic Hilchenbach. Although after a long time he regained the ability to walk a few steps and to speak, he never fully recovered. For 16 years his wife Betti took care of him at home in Lienen. During this time, under medical escort, he was able to make a further 5 trips to Sierra Leone, the last being in 2017. His final year he spent in a nursing home due to his wife's age and health problems. He died 2 Augustus 2024 in Klinikum Osnabrück following large brain infarctions.