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 to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

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

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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

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

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, 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, e ...

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

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

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 s ...

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

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) (PNP; ) is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Manley, Norman Washington Manley who served as party president unti ...

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 Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

in Ghana and

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985. A Lango, ...

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, Sir Milton Margai was appointed first Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. At the time, Albert was serving as a member of parliament for Moyamba.

Minister of Finance

Margai was appointed Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone in 1962. In 1964, Margai changed Sierra Leone's currency from the

British West African pound The pound was the currency of British West Africa, a group of British colonies, protectorates and mandate territories. It was equal to one pound sterling and was similarly subdivided into 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. It was issued from 1912 ...

to the leone, a decimal legal tender roughly equivalent to half a

pound sterling Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...

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

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

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 governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...

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 A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

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 from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was often characterized by patrimonial ...

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 replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

, 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 The National Reformation Council, or NRC, was a group of senior military officers with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman, who seized control of the Sierra Leone Government of Sierra Leone, government on March 23, 1967. They suspended the ...

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)