Parrot Africa Herald

On the 17th of January he wrote on his page: "Looking forward to interviewing #SouthSudan ex child soldier musician @EmmanuelJAL on Focus on Africa today at 1730GMT" But sometime that night, on the 18th of January he died; at age 41, of a heart attack. Hmmmm..... this life!Komla was a well-liked presenter of BBC's Focus on Africa.According to James Harding, the BBC's Director of News and Current Affairs, Dumor had a "singular role in transforming the coverage of Africa" and "brought a depth of understanding, a great deal of courage, a joyous charm and boundless charisma to his work." At the time of his death he was the only West African presenter on BBC World News.Dumor was born in Accra in 1972. His father, Ernest Dumor, was a professor of sociology while his mother, Cecelia Dumor, had a Masters in Mass Communication. His grandfather, the musician Philip Gbeho, wrote the Ghanaian national anthem. Dumor had no training as a journalist; in 1988 he enrolled at the University of Jos in Nigeria to study medicine but dropped out to read sociology and psychology in Ghana. He later gained a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard.In 1998, during strikes which affected his studies at the University of Ghana, he saw an advert for a part-time job at the local Joy FM radio station as a roving reporter. In this role he would ride around the city on his bike, call into the station with news about the capital's traffic jams and then rush into the university to attend his lectures.Dumor's friendly yet professional style endeared him to radio audiences. Within two years he had his own slot as a presenter on Joy FM's Super Morning Show and in 2003 was named Journalist of the Year, by the Ghana Journalist Association. The current president of the association, Dr Affail Monney, described his passing as "...one of the saddest days in Ghanaian journalism, the day we lost one of our purest gems at all times." The station's team dedicated its morning programme to him on Monday this week. His former colleague, Tommy Annan-Forson, said as part of the tributes that day: "He had a style that could attract you to TV, to watch him, that could virtually get you marooned... His stories were so unique, the way he handled them..."In 2007 Dumor joined the BBC, hosting Network Africa for the World Service on radio, going on to present the World Today programme. Africa Business Report, which he anchored from 2009 to 2012, provided pioneering coverage of commercial affairs on the continent; in this role he interviewed guests including the Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and the former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. More recently, in Focus on Africa, the first BBC daily news programme for African audiences in English, he presented features from across the continent.The BBC's Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet spoke of the three Fs central to his life: faith, family and football. A dedicated follower of the Ghanaian national team, he was always keen to comment on their progress. In his last article on the BBC News website he listed some of his highlights from 2013, including, with pride: "Ghana, my team, qualified for the football World Cup."He also noted, with characteristic perspicacity, "I could not help but see the irony watching the French President François Hollande welcomed as a hero and liberator in Mali in the same year the African Union marked 50 years of its existence."He provided coverage following the recent death of Nelson Mandela, saying later: "Covering the funeral for me will always be a special moment. I will look back on it with a sense of sadness. But also with gratitude. I feel lucky to have been a witness to that part of the Mandela story." Makaziwe, Mandela's daughter, said of him, "Here was truly a shining star of Africa who came into our lounges, our bedrooms, every day 7:30 South African time... Komla was Africa in every essence."There is so much to be said about Komla. But, I decided to post this today because I thought about the brevity of life. At 41, he had his life ahead of him. He had plans. He had ambitions. And he had passion for Africa. But, he died, at a young age of 41.Just think about it!Rest in Peace Komla. Major part of this story was culled from The Independent.