Sir Albert Margai | |
---|---|
2nd Prime Minister of Sierra Leone | |
In office 28 April 1964 –21 March 1967 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor‑General | Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston |
Preceded by | Sir Milton Margai |
Succeeded by | Siaka Stevens |
Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone | |
In office 1962–1964 | |
Prime Minister | Sir Milton Margai |
Preceded by | Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha |
Succeeded by | Robert Granville Ojumiri King |
Minister of Agriculture | |
In office 1959–1962 | |
Head of Sierra Leone People's Party | |
In office 1957–1957 | |
Preceded by | Sir Milton Margai |
Succeeded by | Sir Milton Margai |
Member of Parliament for Moyamba Moyamba (1957) | |
In office 1957–1957 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Albert Michael Margai 10 October 1910 Gbangbatoke,Banta Chiefdom,Moyamba District,British Sierra Leone |
Died | 18 December 1980 70) | (aged
Political party | Sierra Leone People's Party |
Profession | Attorney |
Sir Albert Michael Margai (10 October 1910 –18 December 1980) was the second prime minister of Sierra Leone and the half-brother of Sir Milton Margai, [1] the country's first Prime Minister. He was also the father of Sierra Leonean politician Charles Margai. [2]
Albert Margai was born in Gbangbatoke,Banta Chiefdom,in what is now the Moyamba District,Freetown. [3] His stepfather,M. E. S. Margai,who gave him the family name Margai,was a wealthy trader from Bonthe. [4] Margai received a Roman Catholic education at St. Edward's Primary School and went on to be one of the first group of students to attend St. Edward's Secondary School. [3]
Margai became a registered nurse and this was his occupation from 1931 to 1944. [3] He later travelled to England and read law at the Inner Temple Inns of Court,where he qualified in 1948. [3] Prior to his political career,he owned a private law practice in Freetown. [3]
Margai was elected first Protectorate Member to the Legislative Council in 1951. [3] In 1952 he became a Cabinet Minister and Sierra Leone's first Minister of Education. [3] In 1957 he was elected Member of Parliament for the Moyamba Constituency). [3]
He served as Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone in Milton's government after 1962,where he also held positions alternatively in Education,Agriculture,and Natural Resources. After the death of his brother,Sir Albert served from 1964 until 1967.
Margai was a founding member of the Sierra Leone National Party,which was formed in 1949 to advocate and aid in the transition to independence for the country.
However,in the years leading up to independence,Margai was allied more closely with Siaka Stevens than his brother. He took leadership of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) in 1957,but stepped down to form the People's National Party with Stevens. A major point of contention between the two groups involved the degree of involvement of traditional chiefs and traditional rules in the modern state. In fact,Margai openly asked traditional rulers to stay out of politics. He was one of a number of leaders (Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and Milton Obote in Uganda are other examples) who attempted to remove the system of democratic governance enshrined in multi-party democracy as he believed that this would encourage politicians to accentuate the ethnic differences within the state and therefore threaten the viability of Sierra Leone as a country.
The Crown Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone was granted political independence on 27 April 1961. [3] Albert's brother,Sir Milton Margai was appointed first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. At the time,Albert was serving as a member of parliament for Moyamba. [3]
Margai was appointed Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone in 1962. [3] In 1964,Margai changed Sierra Leone's currency from the British West African pound to the leone,a decimal legal tender roughly equivalent to half a pound sterling at the time. [3] He also founded the Bank of Sierra Leone and made it the national central bank. [3]
Sir Albert Margai was made Prime Minister on 29 April 1964. [3]
He was highly criticized during his tenure. He had a penchant for extravagant pageantry and was accused of corruption and of a policy of affirmative action in favor of the Mende tribe. The tantrum-prone Prime Minister was nicknamed "Akpata",a Mende word meaning "our wild,fat man". [5] Margai was also nicknamed "Big Albert" and "African Albert". [3]
Sir Albert Margai took power and sought to make the army homogeneously Mende. [6] He also endeavoured to change Sierra Leone from a democracy to a one-party state. [5]
Up until the 1967 elections,Sierra Leone had been an exemplary democratic,post-colonial state. [5] However,the campaign strategies of Margai would forever alter this trend. [5] He was against any candidates from the opposition running against candidates from his own party. [5] Margai refused to dignify accusation of corruption with a response. [5] Riots broke out across Sierra Leone and the government had to declare a state of emergency.
Margai's opponent Siaka Stevens achieved a small parliamentary majority and he was sworn in as the third Prime Minister of Sierra Leone by Governor-General Sir Henry Lightfoot Boston. [5] Margai's friend and ally Brigadier David Lansana,who was the Commander of Sierra Leone's Armed Forces at the time,arrested both Stevens and Lightfoot Boston. [5] He declared martial law,dismissed the election results and proclaimed himself the interim Governor-General. [5]
In April 1968,a group of noncommissioned officers staged a counter coup in an attempt to restore the democratic process to Sierra Leone. [5] The so-called Sergeants' Coup was led by Lieutenant Colonel Ambrose Patrick Genda who Margai had fired in 1967. [5] Eight member of the officers formed the National Reformation Council and elected Brigadier John Bangura to the post of acting Governor-General of Sierra Leone. A staunch democrat,Bangura re-instated Siaka Stevens because he had won the election. [5]
Margai warned:"If the Stevens government does not do something to elevate the lives of the have-nots,the poor,they would one day rise to demand from the haves,the rich,their own share of the economy." [2]
On 18 December 1980,Margai died in his sleep. [2] He is survived by his son,politician Charles Margai. [2]
Sierra Leone,officially the Republic of Sierra Leone,is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Its land area is 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi). It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census,Sierra Leone has a population of 8,908,040. Freetown is both its capital and its largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions,which are further subdivided into 16 districts.
Sierra Leone first became inhabited by indigenous African peoples at least 2,500 years ago. The Limba were the first tribe known to inhabit Sierra Leone. The dense tropical rainforest partially isolated the region from other West African cultures,and it became a refuge for peoples escaping violence and jihads. Sierra Leone was named by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra,who mapped the region in 1462. The Freetown estuary provided a good natural harbour for ships to shelter and replenish drinking water,and gained more international attention as coastal and trans-Atlantic trade supplanted trans-Saharan trade.
Sir Milton Augustus Strieby Margai was a Sierra Leonean physician and politician who served as the country's head of government from 1954 until his death in 1964. He was titled chief minister from 1954 to 1960,and then prime minister from 1961 onwards. Margai studied medicine in England,and upon returning to his homeland became a prominent public health campaigner. He entered politics as the founder and inaugural leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party. Margai oversaw Sierra Leone's transition to independence,which occurred in 1961. He died in office aged 68,and was succeeded as prime minister by his brother Albert. Margai enjoyed the support of Sierra Leoneans across classes,who respected his moderate style,friendly demeanor,and political savvy.
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone,along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. The SLPP dominated Sierra Leone's politics from its foundation in 1951 to 1967,when it lost the 1967 parliamentary election to the APC,led by Siaka Stevens. Originally a centre-right,conservative party,it identifies since 2012 as a centre-left social democratic party,with a centrist tendency.
Siaka Probyn Stevens was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985,serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial rule and self-indulgence,consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation.
Moyamba District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone,with a population of 318,064 in the 2015 census. Its capital and largest city is Moyamba. The other major towns include Njala,Rotifunk and Shenge. The district is the largest in the Southern Province by geographical area,occupying a total area of 6,902 km2 (2,665 sq mi) and comprises fourteen chiefdoms.
Brigadier David Lansana was the first prominent Sierra Leonean in the Sierra Leone Military during the colonial era. After Sierra Leone gained independence,he served as Military Attachéto the United States.
The People's Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) is a liberal party in Sierra Leone. It is a breakaway faction of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). It was officially registered on 19 January 2006. The party is led by Charles Margai,the son of Sierra Leone's second prime minister Sir Albert Margai and the nephew of Sir Milton Margai. The PMDC is based in the country's second largest city of Bo.
Charles Francis Kondo Margai is a Sierra Leonean politician and constitutional lawyer who served as Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone in 2018.
John Albert Musselman Karefa-Smart was a Sierra Leonean politician,medical doctor and university professor. He served as the first Foreign Minister under Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister,Sir Milton Margai. He was an ordained Elder of the United Methodist Church.
Moyamba is the capital and largest city of Moyamba District,in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. There has been a recorded population of 11,485 in the 2004 census. The city is ethnically diverse,although the Mende people make up the majority. The city is home to the Hatford Secondary School for Girls,which is one of the elite secondary schools in Sierra Leone. The school attract some of the most gifted students from all parts of Sierra Leone,along with students abroad. The school is an all-girls secondary school,and the students are in a boarding home in the school campus. The city has a history of producing some of Sierra Leone's most prominent politicians,including the country's first president,Siaka Stevens.
Paramount Chief Ella Koblo Gulama OBE,GCOR was a Sierra Leonean paramount chief and politician. In 1957,she became the first elected female Member of Parliament in Sierra Leone. She was re-elected in 1962. During the government of Milton Margai,Gulama became Sierra Leone and sub-Saharan Africa's first female Cabinet Minister.
Julius Momoh Gulama was a Sierra Leonean King,statesman and educator in the pre-independence era. As King of Kaiyamba Chiefdom,he ruled the largest and most powerful Mende chiefdom in the Sierra Leone.
Bai Koblo Pathbana II, was a paramount chief and politician in Lunsar,Port Loko District,Sierra Leone. He was crowned the 43rd Paramount Chief of Marampa-Masimera Chiefdom in 1943.
Komeh Gulama Lansana was the wife of Brigadier David Lansana,Force Commander of the Sierra Leone Army until his execution in 1975.
General elections were held in Sierra Leone on 17 March 1967. They were won by the opposition All People's Congress,marking the first time that a ruling party had lost an election in sub-Saharan Africa. However,the APC was overthrown in a military coup hours after taking power. The party was later restored to office after a counter-coup the following year and established a long-standing dictatorship.
The Dominion of Sierra Leone was an independent sovereign state with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state between independence on 27 April 1961 and becoming the Republic of Sierra Leone on 19 April 1971.
The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961,part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crown colony,which included the area surrounding Freetown,was established in 1808. The protectorate was established in 1896 and included the interior of what is today known as Sierra Leone.
The 1967 Sierra Leonean coups d'état were two successive coups in Sierra Leone that took place from March 21 to 23,1967.