Sierra Leone - Independence
On April 27, 1961, Sir Milton Margai led Sierra Leone to Independence from the United Kingdom. He was the country's first Prime Minister. He was a veteran medical doctor who had been appointed Chief Minister after the Colonial Legislative Council and the Protectorate Assembly were unified in 1951. His political party, the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), won by large margins in the nation's first general election under universal adult suffrage in May 1962. It also won majority of seat in parliament. Upon Sir Milton's death in 1964, his brother, Sir Albert Margai succeeded him as prime minister. Sir Albert was highly criticized during his three-year rule as prime minister. He tried to establish a one-party but met fierce resistance from the opposition All People's Congress (APC) and he ultimately abandoned the idea.
In a closely contested general elections in March 1967, the All Peoples Congress (APC) won a plurality of the parliamentary seats. Sierra Leone Governor General Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston (representing the British Monarch) declared the new Prime Minister to be Siaka Stevens, candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) and Mayor of Freetown.
Within a few hours, Prime Minister Stevens and Margai were placed under house arrest by Brigadier David Lansana, the Commander of the Republic of Sierra Leone Military Forces (RSLMF), on grounds that the determination of office should await the election of the tribal representatives to the house.
But a group of senior military officers overrode this action by seizing control of the government on March 23, 1968 in the "sergeants’ revolt", arresting Brigadier Lansana and suspending the constitution. The group constituted itself as the National Reformation Council (NRC) with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman. In April 1968, the NRC was overthrown by a group of military officers who called themselves the Anti-Corruption Revolutionary Movement (ACRM), led by Brigadier John Amadu Bangura. The ACRM imprisoned senior NRC members, restored the constitution and reinstated Siaka Stevens as Prime Minister.
Stevens at last, in April 1968, assumed the office of Prime Minister under the restored constitution. Siaka Stevens remained as head of state until 1985. Under his rule, in 1978, the constitution was amended and all political parties, other than the ruling APC, were banned.
The return to civilian rule led to by-elections beginning in fall 1968 and the appointment of an all-APC cabinet. Calm was not completely restored. In November 1968, Siaka Stevens declared a state of emergency after provincial disturbances. In March 1971 the government survived an unsuccessful military coup and in July 1974 it uncovered an alleged military coup plot. The leaders of both plots were tried and executed. In 1977, student demonstrations against the government disrupted Sierra Leone politics.
On April 19, 1971, Parliament declared Sierra Leone a Republic. Siaka Stevens, then prime minister, became the nation's first president, and in March 1976 he was elected without opposition for a second five-year term as president. In 1978, Parliament approved a new constitution making the country a one-party stat. In the 1978 referendum the APC was made the only legal political party in Sierra Leone.
In August 1985, the APC named military commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Saidu Momoh, Stevens own choice, as the party candidate. Momoh was elected President in a one-party referendum on October 1, 1985. In October 1991 Momoh had the constitution amended once again, re-establishing a multi-party system. Under Momoh, APC rule was increasingly marked by abuses of power.
President Sir Siaka Stevens retired in November, 1985 after being President for 14 years, but continued to be chairman of the APC. The APC named a new presidential candidate to succeed Stevens. He was Major General Joseph Saidu Momh, the commander of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces, and Stevens' own choice to succeed him. Joseph Saidu Momoh was elected President in a one-party referendum on November 28, 1985.
In October 1990, President Momoh set up a constitutional review commission to review the 1978 one-party constitution. Based on the commission recommendations a constitution re-establishing a multi-party system was approved by Parliament; becomming effective on October 1, 1991.
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