Sir Milton Margai led Sierra Leone To Independence From Great Britain

On 27 April 1961, Sir Milton Margai led Sierra Leone to independence from Great Britain and became the country's first Prime Minister. Thousands of Sierra Leoneans took to the streets in celebration.

Sierra Leone got independence in the year 1961 from British. Sierra Leone was a colony of British since 1808. British were in this small African country in the west coast before 1808 and it used to trade slaves. In the year 1787, a small area of land where the freed slaves got settled was bought.

This area was called the province of freedom which was later called Freetown. This arrangement also faced a lot of difficulties and problems. The first constitution of Sierra Leone was written in the year 1863. This helped in establishing the executive and legislative council in replacement of governor’s advisory council.

The executive council included the governor, the attorney general as the advocate of the queen, the colonial secretary and the commanding officer of the troops. The legislative council included the members who were nominated and called officials and also unofficial members whom the governor appointed. The groups like the Ratepayers Association, Aborigines Rights Protection Society, Civil Service, and the Sierra Leone Bar Association which are backed by newspapers like the Sierra Leone Times became a constitutional platform for distressed people.

The constitution of 1924 was declared by the Governor Slater and cancelled the 1863 version. The constitution was enlarged to 12 official and 10 unofficial members and it had 2 people from Europe and 2 paramount chiefs. This constitution has given the way to the independence in Sierra Leone.

The protectorate and the colony people strongly opposed the constitution. After struggling for a long time the constitution was revised by the governor, Sir George Beresford Stooke, in the year 1961. This was descended by the general election in which the Sierra Leone Peoples Party won