The State House | |
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Former names | Fort Thornton |
General information | |
Address | State Avenue, Tower Hill, Freetown, Sierra Leone |
Coordinates | 8°29′12.21″N13°14′2.1″W / 8.4867250°N 13.233917°W |
Current tenants | Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, First Lady Fatima Bio, and their family |
Completed | 1895 (122 years old) |
Inaugurated | 1894 |
Owner | Government of Sierra Leone |
Landlord | Government of Sierra Leone |
The State House is the official residence of the president of Sierra Leone. It is home to the offices of the president, senior presidential staff and associated aides. The State House is located at State Avenue, Tower Hill, in central Freetown.
The State House is located on State Avenue, Tower Hill, in central Freetown. [1] It stands on the site of Fort Thornton, built from ca. 1792 to 1805 and named after Henry Thornton. Inside of it was Government House, the seat of the British governor. Although it was being continually repaired and Jane Drew made alterations to it after the war, [2] it was soon after considered "to be nearing the end of its useful life". [3] In 1949 plans for a new Government House were presented to the public. [4] They had been prepared by the senior architect of the Public Works Department, Robin Halliday Macartney, who was entirely responsible for the design and the construction. [5] After several delays the building was finished in 1954 and the governor, Sir Robert Hall, moved in in February. [6] At the express wish of the governor, "the fortification walls should be retained on account of their aesthetic and historical value." [7] Therefore, the walls were declared National Monuments in 1949. [8] As the old walls were of uncertain strength, "it was deemed prudent to place no great load on them". [9] The old bastion walls can be seen from the gate.
The lions on the gateposts have also been taken over from the old Government House. Thus the building harmoniously combines the old and the new. It consists of "two wings pivoted on a central tower" [10] which houses a spiral staircase with a mosaic of the world at the bottom. The two wings are asymmetrical in design, with an open facade at the front, creating a sense of lightness and buoyancy. When completed, the new Government House was one of the highest buildings in Freetown, a modern counterpart to the nearby Law Courts of 1910. From 1976 on, the State House, as it was now called, received an extension which changed the original impression. [11] During the colonial period it was used as the residence of the governor of Sierra Leone. It was the official residence of the prime minister of Sierra Leone from 1961 to 1971, after which it became the residence of the president. [1]
As the residence of the president of Sierra Leone, the State House is constantly protected by the Presidential Guard. The guard is a special unit of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces. The Sierra Leone Police, who are responsible for road traffic control around the State House, clear traffic and assist with security when the presidential convoy moves within any part of the country.
The State House is closed to the general public, and only authorized persons and vehicles are permitted access.
The president's senior staff members have offices inside the State House. These include the office of the president's chief minister, chief of staff, and the presidential press secretary. The offices of the aide de camp to the president, the Ministry of Political Affairs, the national security adviser to the president, the senior political advisors to the president, and the senior economic advisers to the president are all located with the State House.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It shares its southeastern border with Liberia, and the northern half of the nation is surrounded by Guinea. Covering a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi), Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with diverse environments ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a population of 7,092,113 as of the 2015 census. Freetown is the capital and largest city. The country is divided into five administrative regions, which are 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.
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and political centre, as it is the seat of the Government of Sierra Leone. The population of Freetown was 1,055,964 at the 2015 census.
The government of Sierra Leone is the governing authority of the Republic of Sierra Leone, as established by the Sierra Leone Constitution. The Sierra Leone government is divided into three branches: the executive, legislative and the judiciary. The seat of government of Sierra Leone is in the capital Freetown.
Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, Kabbah spent many years working for the United Nations Development Programme. He retired from the United Nations and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992.
The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
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.
Julius Maada Wonie Bio is a Sierra Leonean politician, and the current president of Sierra Leone since 4 April 2018. He is a retired brigadier in the Sierra Leone Army and was the military head of state of Sierra Leone from 16 January 1996 to 29 March 1996, in a military junta government known as the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC).
Freetown International Airport (officially), locally known as Lungi International Airport, is an international airport located in the coastal town of Lungi, Sierra Leone. It is the only international airport in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone River separates the airport from Freetown, the nation's capital city.
Ernest Bai Koroma is a Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018.
Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007, to March 17, 2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) in the 2007 presidential election, alongside presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma. The APC ticket defeated the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) presidential candidate Solomon Berewa and vice presidential candidate Momodou Koroma. Sam-Sumana took office as vice president on September 17, 2007.
Maroon Town, Sierra Leone, is a district in the settlement of Freetown, a colony founded in West Africa by Great Britain.
Jamil Sahid Mohamed Khalil was a Sierra Leonean-Lebanese businessman, diamonds and commodities trader. He attained prominence in the diamond industry across Africa and Antwerp and became an influential figure in the politics of Sierra Leone through his close association with President Siaka Stevens. Jamil also came to dominate other business sectors including fisheries, tourism construction and aviation.
Tower Hill is an affluent government and residential neighborhood in central Freetown, Sierra Leone. Tower Hill is located within the central business district in downtown Freetown. Tower Hill is the seat of the government of Sierra Leone, as it is home to the State House. Tower Hill is also home to the Sierra Leone House of Parliament, the Ministry of Defence and National Security, the Bank of Sierra Leone, the Sierra Leone National Electoral Commission (NEC), and many other government buildings.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the second-largest sect of Islam in Sierra Leone, behind only Sunni Islam. The earliest history of the Community in Sierra Leone dates back to the early period of the Second Caliphate, when at least six people are said to have conveyed their adherence to the faith. The sect attained rapid growth in the country after the 1937 arrival of Nazir Ahmad Ali, the first permanent Ahmadi missionary in Sierra Leone. Recent estimates by Ahmadi community suggest that there are approximately 560,000 Ahmadi Muslims in Sierra Leone, which is about 9% of the country's total population. Sierra Leone has the largest percentage of Ahmadi Muslims by share of total population in the world.
Peter Alfred Penfold was a British diplomat who was the second youngest governor of the British Virgin Islands and was High Commissioner to the Republic of Sierra Leone. His career began in 1963, when he joined the Foreign Service as a clerical officer. Two years into his career, he was posted to the British embassy in Bonn, West Germany, and two years after that to Nigeria. From 1970 to 1972, Penfold served as a "floater" in Latin America, filling in as necessary for staff at British missions in the region. He served in Mexico during the 1970 football world cup, and on St Vincent, where he was responsible for organising an evacuation after a volcanic eruption. After Latin America, Penfold briefly served in Canberra, before returning to London to take a post in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). He earned early promotion to second secretary in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was responsible for reporting on the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the Eritrean War of Independence and was still in the country during the revolution, in which the pro-Western emperor was overthrown. After completing his tour in Ethiopia, Penfold served as information officer in Port of Spain and then as first secretary in the West Africa Department of the FCO.
Elizabeth II was Queen of Sierra Leone from 1961 to 1971, when Sierra Leone was an independent constitutional monarchy. She was also the monarch of other Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom. Her constitutional roles in Sierra Leone were mostly delegated to the governor-general of Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone National Museum, previously known as the Sierra Leone Museum and the Museum of the Sierra Leone Society, is the national museum of Sierra Leone. it is located at the junction of Siaka Stevens Street and Pademba Road, in central Freetown.
Abdulai Hamid Charm is a Sierra Leonean judge, who was formerly the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone until his resignation in December 2018.
Robin Halliday Macartney FRIBA was a British architect, painter and illustrator. Today he is mainly remembered as the designer of four book covers for Agatha Christie, who immortalized him as "Mac" in her archaeological memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live. Macartney began his working life as excavation architect in the Near East and then entered the service of the Public Works Department. He was active in Cyprus, Sierra Leone and Nyasaland before retiring to Portugal. Two of his buildings have since become presidential residences.