Source: BBC Media Center
BBC TV presenter Komla Dumor has died suddenly at his home in London at the age of 41, it has been announced. Ghana-born Dumor was a presenter for BBC World News and its Focus on Africa programme. One of Ghana’s best-known journalists, he joined the BBC as a radio broadcaster in 2006 after a decade of journalism in Ghana.
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama said on Twitter that his country had lost one of its finest ambassadors.
BBC Global News Director Peter Horrocks called Dumor a leading light of African journalism who would be deeply missed. He was “committed to telling the story of Africa as it really is,” Mr Horrocks said in a statement.
“Africa’s energy and enthusiasm seemed to shine through every story Komla told, Komla’s many friends and colleagues across Africa and the world will be as devastated as we are by this shocking news.”
The BBC understands he had suffered a heart attack.
Komla Afeke Dumor (3 October 1972 – 18 January 2014) was a Ghanaian journalist who was born in Accra, Ghana. His grandfather was Philip Gbeho, composer of the Ghanaian national anthem. Dumor was the main presenter of the BBC World News programme
Dumor initially did his pre-clinical medicine at the University of Jos, Nigeria but left for his home country where he graduated from the University of Ghana with a BSc. in Sociology and Psychology and from Harvard University with an MA in Public Administration.
He started as the morning show host for Joy FM in Accra, Ghana, and was the 2003 winner of Journalist of the Year award given by the Ghana Journalists Association. Dumor joined the BBC African Service in 2006 as host of the radio programme Network Africa. From 2008 to 2012 he presented The World Today on the BBC World Service. In 2011 Dumor began presenting the World News and Africa Business Report on BBC World News television. When the latter was relaunched in 2013; fellow BBC correspondent Lerato Mbele was chosen as host.
In a list published in New African magazine (December 2013) he was named as one of the 100 most influential Africans of the year 2013, with the citation: “It has been a coming of age for Kumla Dumor this year. The presenter of Focus on Africa, the BBC’s flagship and first-ever dedicated daily TV news programme in English for African audiences, broadcast on BBC World News, has established himself as one of the emerging African faces of global broadcasting. As a lead presenter for BBC World, Dumor has considerable influence on how the continent is covered.
At the time of his death, Dumor was the only West African news reader on BBC World News. In the words of BBC Radio 4 Today presenter Mishal Husain, “Komla developed his own unique on air style, seamlessly moved between TV and radio & influenced Africa coverage across the BBC.” He was also described by Peter Horrocks, the BBC’s global news director, as “a leading light of African journalism – committed to telling the story of Africa as it really is.”
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