Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster happened. Ditto 911. Likewise, I’ll remember exactly when I heard about Herbert’s death. Yes, it was a bombshell.

I’d just sat down at my desk to get back to work. I fired up music on Spotify, checked a WhatsApp group for news. The first message I saw: Herbert M’cleod is dead. RIP.
Just as I can’t follow detailed navigation instructions with the car radio on, I had to switch off the music. I was dazed.

In quick succession I called Herbert’s friend, George Taylor-Lewis. Then ABK at IGC. Then Sheka Bangura at MoPED. Then Abraham Konteh at Covenant Ventures. Later, I’d speak to Felix Marco Conteh, Isata Kabia, Kandeh Yumkella, Millicent Lewis-Ojumu on the same subject: Herbert M’cleod: our shock, sorrow, his influence and impact, and the gap his sudden departure leaves for all of us.

And who are these people? Herbert’s close friend, a senior public servant, his work colleague, several business partners, an academic, and more than one politician. I’ve also had exchanges with non-Sierra Leoneans dotted all over the world. Chris Gabelle, who’s known Herbert for nearly 30 years, told me: “It’s a huge loss. Salone has lost a giant. People like Herbert (and they are few are far between) are simply irreplaceable.”

When I returned to Sierra Leone in 2008, everyone kept saying, you need to meet M’cleod. He was the go-to-guy for anyone serious about contributing to Sierra Leone’s development.

We met and first worked together during the 2011 Sierra Leone Conference on Development and Transformation that Herbert headed. We have since collaborated on more than a dozen other projects right up to March of this year. In that timespan, Herbert and I have exchanged 4,018 emails. As I read through them now, there are so many classic HPM one-liners

Herbert was notoriously slow at sending in his invoices to get paid. I wonder if he isn’t owed money for that last assignment!

It isn’t sentimental hyperbole to say Herbert’s passing is more than a tragedy for family, friends, and work colleagues. An incalculable loss for the family, as Rinde M’cleod said at Herbert’s memorial service, but for Sierra Leone and Africa too. This man lived a consequential life.

Our troubled world needs more Herberts. Polarized Sierra Leone needs more M’cleods.

Herbert was a role model and mentor for me. We talked a lot about ways to change Sierra Leone. He was often disappointed, even horrified, at the shortcomings. But he wasn’t cynical or jaded. That’s my takeaway. That’s the leaf I’m taking from Herbert’s book.

As Chris Gabelle says, Herbert may be irreplaceable but how do we nurture and support the next generation of Herbert M’cleods?

How about an annual Herbert M’cleod prize for young public or international civil servants? Or an annual Herbert M’cleod lecture and essay competition? Or a Herbert M’cleod endowment at one of our universities to support action research in a spirt reminiscent and reflective of Herbert’s approach?

Tributes and warm words are great. But a lasting tribute would ensure we carry on Herbert’s important work. I pledge a four-figure sum in US dollars to such a venture, if others feel this has merit.

Let me leave you with that thought.

May the soul of Herbert Prince M’cleod rest in perfect peace. And may his legacy live on.

Thank you.