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 rule and self-indulgence, consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation.

Siaka Probyn Stevens was born on 24 August 1905 in Moyamba, Moyamba District in the Southern Province of British Sierra Leone to a Limba father and a Mende mother.

Although born in Moyamba, Stevens was largely raised in Freetown.

Stevens completed his primary education in Freetown and completed secondary school at Albert Academy in Freetown, before joining the Sierra Leone Police Force.

From 1923 to 1930, he rose to the rank of First Class Sergeant and Musketry Instructor.

From 1931 to 1946, Stevens worked on the construction of the Sierra Leone Development Company (DELCO) railway, linking the Port of Pepel with the iron ore mines at Marampa.

In 1943, he helped co-founded the United Mine Workers Union and was appointed to the Protectorate Assembly in 1946 to represent worker interests.

In 1947, Stevens was enrolled at Ruskin College where he studied labour relations.

In 1951, Stevens co-founded the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) and was elected to the Legislative Council.

A year later, he became Sierra Leone's first Minister of Mines, Lands, and Labor.

In 1957, he was elected to the House of Representatives as a member for Port Loko constituency, but lost his seat as a result of an election petition.

In 1959, he participated in independence talks in London.

When the talks concluded, however, he was the only delegate who refused to sign the agreement on the grounds that there had been a secret defence pact between Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom.

Another point of contention was the Sierra Leonean government's position that there would be no elections held before independence, which would effectively shut him out of the political process.

He was promptly expelled from the PNP upon his return from the talks.

Stevens then launched the Elections Before Independence Movement (EBIM).

After successfully exploiting the disenchantment of northern and eastern ethnic groups with the SLPP, along with the creation of an alliance with the Sierra Leone Progressive Independence Movement (SLPIM), He was one of the 8TH member's of the APC after it was formed on 20 March 1960.

The All People's Congress is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other is the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).

The party was founded in 1960 by a breakaway group from the Sierra Leone People's Party who vehemently opposed the idea of an election before independence, but instead supported the idea of independence before elections.

The All People's Congress (APC) was formed at 5 Elba Street, Freetown, and they consisted of the late Alhaji Chief Mucktarru Kallay, First chairman and Leader and who gave the name and the symbol.

Allieu Badarr Koroma, Deputy chairman, C.A. Kamara-Taylor, First Secretary General, Alhaji Sheik Gibril Sesay, Treasurer, Kawusu Konte, Organiser, S A T Koroma, Public Relations, Kotor AbuBakarr Sam Bangura, The Artist, drawings of the Symbol, first seventh and later add six to thirteen.

These were the first seven and founders members of the All Peoples Congress Party.

The next Members are Siaka probyn Stevens, Nancy Steele, S.I.Koroma, Bob Allen, Mohamed Bash-Taqui and Ibrahim Bash-Taqui.

Sir. Albert Margai who would later return to the SLPP and become Prime Minister, and Siaka P. Stevens who would also later become Prime Minister and subsequently President of Sierra Leone.

APC was founded in 1963/64 when he visited East Germany, with Sheku Magona and Kade Kamara, with Kade Kamara going to China to getting the seed money for the start of the party.

After disagreements with the SLPP leadership, Stevens broke ties with the party and co-founded the People's National Party (PNP), of which he was the first secretary-general and deputy leader.

Stevens and his All People's Congress (APC) party won the closely contested 1967 Sierra Leone general elections over incumbent Prime Minister Sir Albert Margai of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP).

In elections held on 17 March 1967, the APC won by an extremely narrow margin, and Stevens was appointed Prime Minister, but he was arrested only several minutes after taking office during a military coup.

The APC governed the country from 1968 to 1992, and became the ruling party again in 2007, after the party presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma won the 2007 Sierra Leone presidential election.

After a brief period of military rule, Stevens reassumed the post of Prime Minister on 26 April 1968.

In April 1971, Stevens made Sierra Leone a republic and became president a day after the constitution had been ratified by the Sierra Leone Parliament.

Though generally considered as the first president of Sierra Leone, technically he was the second President of the Republic after Christopher Okoro Cole, a judge, who was sworn in for a day after which he resigned, paving the way for Stevens.

In April 1971, a republican constitution was introduced.

It was ratified by the House of Representatives on 20 April.

Due to the complex process of ending the monarchy, Chief Justice Christopher Okoro Cole became interim governor general in late March.

Stevens served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) from 1 July 1980 to 24 June 1981, and pioneered the creation of the Mano River Union, a three-country economic union comprising Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea.

Stevens retired from office at the end of his term on 28 November 1985.

After pressuring all other potential successors to step aside, he chose Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh, the commander of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces, as his successor.

He died on 29 May 1988, in Freetown.