Milton Maragai

*Sir Milton Margai was born in 1895. He was a Black African politician. Margai was born
in Gbangabatoke in the Banta Chiefdom, Moyamba District of Sierra Leone.

He was the eldest son of a businessman, M.E.S. Margai of Bonthe, and his grandfather
was a Mende warrior chief. He received primary and secondary education at the E.U.B.
school, Bonthe, and the Albert Academy in Freetown. In 1921, he obtained his B.A.
degree from Fourah Bay College.

He then went to Britain, obtaining an M.A. degree and studying medicine at King's
College, Durham, graduating in 1926. As a prominent doctor, he turned to politics in 1949
and led his country to independence (1961) while serving as chief minister (1954-61).

Margai was prime minister of Sierra Leone from 1961-64. He was a distinguished
member of the Colonial Medical Service who pioneered social welfare and hygiene
education in remote areas of the Protectorate. He encouraged leaders of the Mende
women's secret society, the Sande, to include training courses in hygiene, literacy, and
childcare in their initiation program for young girls. These courses were taught by
instructors, most of whom were trained by Margai himself. He was knighted in 1959.
Milton Margai died in office on April 28, 1964.

He was followed as prime minister by his brother Sir Albert Margai, who had held
important cabinet posts and had frequently disagreed with his brother. As prime
minister, he initiated radical policies that finally led to his overthrow in a coup in 1967. He
was knighted in 1965.

Margai's entry into politics occurred in the 1930s when he became a nonchief
member of the Protectorate assembly representing the Bonthe region. By 1950,
he was in charge of the Sierra Leone Organization Society. In 1951, Margai
founded the nationalist Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) with Siaka Stevens,
which won the 1951 election to the Legislative Council. After heading the
departments of Health, Agriculture, and Forestry, Margai was elected chief
minister in 1954. Although the SLPP won elections again in 1957, the following
year Margai's leadership of the party was challenged by his younger
brother, Albert, but even though he narrowly won the internal party election, he
declined the leadership of the party, and left to form the opposition People's
National Party, rejoining his brother in a coalition government in 1960.
Path to independence

Though Margai was pro-British and conservative in his political views, he felt
that Sierra Leone would fare better as a self-determined state. In 1951, Margai
oversaw the drafting of a new constitution which triggered the process
of decolonisation. In 1953, Sierra Leone was granted local ministerial powers
and Margai was made Chief Minister. The new constitution ensured Sierra
Leone a parliamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations and was
formally adopted in 1958.

Margai led the Sierra Leonean delegation at the constitutional conferences that
were held with British Colonial Secretary Iain Macleod in London in 1960. On
27 April 1961, Milton Margai led Sierra Leone to independence from the United
Kingdom. The nation held its first general elections on 27 May 1962 and
Margai was elected Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister by a landslide. His party,
the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) won majority of seat in parliament.
Margai then sought to heal divides between Sierra Leone's ethnic groups, as
several northern ethnic groups felt underrepresented in the SLPP. To
ameliorate their concerns, Margai appointed several elites from northern ethnic
groups to key ministerial positions. However, this did little to lessen poverty in
the north, and forced the SLPP to engage in clientelism in order to ease
tensions with northern ethnic leaders.

Premiership

While Margai was only Prime Minister for three years, he served as a crucial
first figurehead for Sierra Leone at the time of democratisation. In large part,
Margai sought to unite the country and build a sense of national identity while
becoming a member of the British Commonwealth. Margai was critical of
colonialism as such, but also sought to give "credit where it was due," saying
that if more colonial administrators "had been like
Beresford-Stooke, Hodson, Wilkinson and Ransford Slater, colonialism would
have had a better reputation. However, most simply were not." He also singled
out the referendums held by Leslie Probyn as a point of praise. Margai sought
good relations with the British government after independence. He said he felt
"genuine respect" from Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and that "the respect
was mutual." Margai gained the respect of the country's large illiterate
population for his reputation as a skilled explainer. He also garnered support
from local chiefs, who wielded significant social power at the time, because
they respected the work he had done to achieve independence for the country.
However, Margai faced criticism for suppressing the political activities of the
All People's Congress (APC), Sierra Leone's opposition political party. Margai
focused heavily on modernisation, particularly in the areas of education, health,
and agriculture. Margai allowed local councils and governments to spearhead
many improvement projects, but they were ultimately accountable to the
central government, and Margai sometimes withheld funding from councils
controlled by the opposition party.

When Margai became Prime Minister, he left control of the Sierra Leonean
national army in the hands of the British. Slowly, Margai gave more control of
the army over to Sierra Leoneans, and by 1964, the army was fairly ethnically
heterogenous, with 26% of officers being Mende, 12% Temne, and 64% other
groups. Once Margai died, however, his brother Sir Albert Margai took power
and sought to make the army homogeneously Mende.

Margai struggled to handle issues of illegal immigration of the Fula people

from Guinea. In 1962, his government rounded up several "strangers" under the
assumption that they were illegal immigrants from Guinea, but released them
upon learning they were local chiefs.

Today, Sierra Leoneans regard Sir Milton Margai as a man of honesty

and high principle, and look back to his time in office as a period of
prosperity and social harmony. In 1964, Sierra Leone released ½, 1, 5, 10
and 20 cent coins, all of which featured portraits of Margai.

Sir Milton Margai School for the Blind

In 1961, Margai appealed for funding to build a school for the blind
in Freetown. In 1962, he set the foundation stone for the building at
Wilkinson Road. The school motto is: "We cannot see but we will
conquer". In 2006, the school was the subject of a three-part
documentary on BBC News. The Milton Margai School for the Blind
Choir has toured the UK twice in 2003 and 2006.

Milton Margai College of Education and Technology

In 1963, the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology was
established. The first incarnation of the school was the Milton Margai
Teacher's College. but as the school grew and the curriculum
expanded the name was changed to the Milton Margai College of
Education. In 2000, the school merged with the Freetown Technical
Institute.

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