Sir Albert Michael Margai (10 October 1910 – 18 December 1980) was the second prime minister of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

and the half-brother of Milton Margai, Sir Milton Margai, the country's first

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

. He was also the father of Sierra Leonean politician Charles Margai.Sir Albert Margai and the Shadow of Thurgood Marshall
Worldpress.org

Early life

Albert Margai was born in Gbangbatoke, Banta Chiefdom, in what is now the

Moyamba District 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 lar ...

Freetown 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 po ...

. His stepfather, M. E. S. Margai, who gave him the family name Margai, was a wealthy trader from Bonthe. Margai received a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

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. Margai became a registered nurse and this was his occupation from 1931 to 1944. He later travelled to England and read law at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

, where he qualified in 1948. Prior to his political career, he owned a private law practice in Freetown.

Political career

Colonial era

Margai was elected first Protectorate Member to the Legislative Council in 1951. In 1952 he became a Cabinet Minister and Sierra Leone's first Minister of Education. In 1957 he was elected Member of Parliament for the Moyamba Constituency). He served as

Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Ministry of Finance is a ministerial department of the Government of Sierra Leone, and is in charge of managing the revenue and finances of the Sierra Leone government. The ministry implements the Sierra Leone government economic poli ...

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.

Sierra Leone National Party

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.

Sierra Leone People's Party

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 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 April 4, 2018. The SLPP d ...

(SLPP) in 1957, but stepped down to form the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local go ...

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 Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda to independence from British colonial rule in 1962. Following the nation's independence, he served as prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to ...

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.

Independence

The Crown Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone was granted political independence on 27 April 1961. Albert's brother, Milton Margai, Sir Milton Margai was appointed first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. At the time, Albert was serving as a member of parliament for

Moyamba 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 majo ...

Minister of Finance

Margai was appointed

in 1962. 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 Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and ...

at the time. He also founded the Bank of Sierra Leone and made it the national

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central b ...

Premiership and public image

Sir Albert Margai was made Prime Minister on 29 April 1964. 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".End of The Exception
''Time'', 31 March 1967 Margai was also nicknamed "Big Albert" and "African Albert". Sir Albert Margai took power and sought to make the army homogeneously Mende. He also endeavoured to change Sierra Leone from a democracy to a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

1967 elections

Up until the 1967 elections, Sierra Leone had been an exemplary democratic, post-colonial state. However, the campaign strategies of Margai would forever alter this trend. He was against any candidates from the opposition running against candidates from his own party. Margai refused to dignify accusation of corruption with a response. Riots broke out across Sierra Leone and the government had to declare a state of emergency.

Coup d'état

Margai's opponent

Siaka Stevens Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was ofte ...

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. 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. He declared

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

, dismissed the election results and proclaimed himself the interim Governor-General.

Counter coup

In April 1968, a group of noncommissioned officers staged a counter coup in an attempt to restore the democratic process to Sierra Leone. The so-called Sergeants' Coup was led by Lieutenant Colonel Ambrose Patrick Genda who Margai had fired in 1967. 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.

Civilian life

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."

Death

On 18 December 1980, Margai died in his sleep. He is survived by his son, politician Charles Margai.

References

External links

Sierra Leone People's Party
– official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Margai, Albert 1910 births 1980 deaths Alumni of St. Edward's Secondary School, Freetown Knights Bachelor Sierra Leonean knights 20th-century Sierra Leonean lawyers Prime Ministers of Sierra Leone Finance ministers of Sierra Leone Alumni of the Inns of Court School of Law Sherbro people Sierra Leone People's Party politicians Members of the Legislative Council of Sierra Leone Government ministers of Sierra Leone 20th-century Sierra Leonean politicians People from Moyamba District Margai family (Sierra Leone)