Madam ELLA KOBLO GULAMA (born in 1921 in Moyamba, Sierra Leone) was a prominent Sierra Leonean politician and paramount chief. She became actively involved in national politics with the support and encouragement of two prominent Sierra Leonean politicians and former prime ministers, Sir Milton Margai and Sir Albert Margai. She was a member of the Moyamba District Council and was the first woman to be elected to the Sierra Leone parliament in 1957. She was re-elected to parliament in May, 1962 and was appointed by Sir Milton Margai as the first woman cabinet minister. during the brief of Sir Albert's government, she gained a reputation as one of the most powerful members of the government.
Ella Koblo Gulama was born in 1921 in Moyamba, Moyamba District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone to prominent Mende parents. Ella was educated at the Harford School for Girls in Moyamba, and the Women Teacher's College, then at Fourah Bay College in Freetown.
Madam Ella, as she is commonly called, succeeded her late father, Julius Gulama, as Paramount Chief of Kaiyamba Chiefdom, Moyamba District, in 1953. Thereafter, she became actively involved in national politics with the support and encouragement of Sir Milton Margai and Sir Albert Margai. She became a member of the Moyamba District Council and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1957, the first ever woman to do so. She was re-elected to parliament in May, 1962 and appointed the first woman cabinet minister. She went into temporary political exile after Sir Albert Margai fall from power, before bouncing back as the leader of the Moyamba District APC Women's Organisation in the early 1970s.
Although she ruled a predominantly Mende chiefdom, in 1946, Ella Koblo married Bai Koblo Pathbana, a powerful Temne paramount chief from the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. This association may have contributed to the process of national integration.
She is undoubtedly one of the most colourful and resourceful women national figures who have contributed to the political development of Sierra Leone.