Sir Albert Margai | |
|---|---|
| 2ndPrime Minister of Sierra Leone | |
| In office 28 April 1964 – 21 March 1967 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor-General | Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston |
| Preceded by | SirMilton Margai |
| Succeeded by | Siaka Stevens |
| Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone | |
| In office 1962–1964 | |
| Prime Minister | SirMilton Margai |
| Preceded by | Mohammad Sanusi Mustapha |
| Succeeded by | Robert Granville Ojumiri King |
| Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office 1959–1962 | |
| Head ofSierra Leone People's Party | |
| In office 1957–1957 | |
| Preceded by | SirMilton Margai |
| Succeeded by | SirMilton Margai |
| Member of Parliament forMoyamba Moyamba (1957) | |
| In office 1957–1957 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Albert Michael Margai (1910-10-10)10 October 1910 |
| Died | 18 December 1980(1980-12-18) (aged 70) |
| Political party | Sierra Leone People's Party |
| Profession | Attorney |
Sir Albert Michael Margai (10 October 1910 – 18 December 1980) was the second prime minister ofSierra Leone and the half-brother ofSir Milton Margai,[1] the country's firstPrime Minister. He was also the father of Sierra Leonean politicianCharles Margai.[2]
Albert Margai was born inGbangbatoke, Banta Chiefdom, in what is now theMoyamba 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 aRoman Catholic education atSt. Edward's Primary School and went on to be one of the first group of students to attendSt. 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 theInner TempleInns 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 theMoyamba Constituency).[3]
He served asMinister 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 theSierra 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 theSierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) in 1957, but stepped down to form thePeople'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 andMilton 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.
TheCrown 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 forMoyamba.[3]
Margai was appointedMinister of Finance of Sierra Leone in 1962.[3] In 1964, Margai changed Sierra Leone's currency from theBritish West African pound to theleone, a decimal legal tender roughly equivalent to half apound sterling at the time.[3] He also founded theBank of Sierra Leone and made it the nationalcentral 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 theMende 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 aone-party state.[5]
Up until the1967 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 astate of emergency.
Margai's opponentSiaka Stevens achieved a small parliamentary majority and he was sworn in as the third Prime Minister of Sierra Leone by Governor-GeneralSir Henry Lightfoot Boston.[5] Margai's friend and allyBrigadier David Lansana, who was the Commander of Sierra Leone's Armed Forces at the time, arrested both Stevens and Lightfoot Boston.[5] He declaredmartial 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-calledSergeants' Coup was led byLieutenant Colonel Ambrose Patrick Genda who Margai had fired in 1967.[5] Eight member of the officers formed theNational Reformation Council and electedBrigadier John Bangura to the post of actingGovernor-General of Sierra Leone. A staunch democrat, Bangura re-instated Siaka Stevens because he had won the election.[5]
Margai warned: "If theStevens 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, politicianCharles Margai.[2]
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Sierra Leone 1964–1967 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
†denotes military ruler | ||
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