Milton+Margai

Milton Margai By: Austin Kromminga

Sir Milton Augustus Strieby Margai (December 7, 1895 - April 28, 1964) was a Sierra Leonean politician and the first prime minister of Sierra Leone. He was the leader and prime contributor of the post-colonial constitution of Sierra Leone and led Sierra Leone to independence in 1961.

In Margai’s early life, obviously he was born on December 7, 1895 in the small rural town of Gbangbatoke, in what has now become the Moyamba District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone as a result of the consummation of Mende parents. When he was born, his country was a British Protectorate. Milton Margai received his primary education at the Evangelical United Brethren School in Bonthe, and his secondary education was at Albert Academy in Freetown. Margai earned a history bachelors degree and was the first Protectorate man to graduate from Fourah Bay College in 1921. Margai went to a medical school in England and became a big doctor in 1926 at King's College Medical School at theUniversity of Durham. Margai also attended the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and he was the first Protectorate man to become a medical doctor also.

Margai was an integral member of the women’s health reform in Sierra Leone, and he trained health care workers to instruct female leaders in the community of the Mende women's association, The Sande, to give courses in literacy, hygiene and child care to young female members. Working hand in hand with local women's groups, Margai trained midwives and was the author of an instructional manual on midwifery in the Mende language.

In 1949 he founded the nationalist Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) w/Siaka Stevens, which, as a single entity, won the 1951 election to the Legislative Council. He then proceeded to man the departments of Health, Agriculture, and Forestry, and then he was elected chief minister in 1954. Although the SLPP won multiple elections again in 1957, Margai was challenged for party leadership by his brother Albert, but even though he won by an extremely slim margin, he conceded the leadership of the party, and left to create the opposition People's National Party, reuniting with his brother in a coalition government in 1960. Even though Margai was in favor of British policy and conservative in his political views, he felt that Sierra Leone would fare better as a state that was run by desire and determination of the people. In 1951 Margai served in the brain trust that lead the drafting of a new constitution, which put into action the process of decolonization. In 1953, Sierra Leone was granted local ministerial powers and Margai was then promptly named the Chief Minister. The new constitution promised Sierra Leone a parliamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations and was formally adopted in 1958. Margai organized and led the Sierra Leone delegation at the constitutional. On April 27, 1961, Milton Margai was instrumental in that he led Sierra Leone to independence from the United Kingdom. Sierra Leone held its first general elections on May 27, 1962 and Margai was easily and soundly elected Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister by a landslide. His own party, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) then proceeded to win majority of seat in parliament. Knighted in 1959, he was prime minister at the time of independence on April 27, 1961, and won the upcoming election in 1962. He appointed the youngest Queens Council attorney in the Commonwealth at that time, Berthan Macaulay, to the role of Attorney General. Margai died in office in Freetown in 1964 and was succeeded as prime minister by his brother Albert Margai.

Websites Used
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Margai
 * http://www.slpp.ws/browse.asp?page=438
 * http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sir_Milton_Margai.aspx