Sir Banja Tejan-Sie (1917-2000) was the Governor General of
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
and one of the "founding fathers" of the
Sierra Leone People's Party
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, along with its main political rival the All People's Congress (APC). It has been the ruling party in Sierra Leone since April 4, 2018. The SLPP d ...
(SLPP). He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen, with the most distinguished Order - The Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George,
GCMG
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III.
It is named in honour ...
. Tejan-Sie was born in
Moyamba District
Moyamba District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, with a population of 318,064 in the 2015 census. Its capital and largest city is Moyamba. The other major towns include Njala, Rotifunk and Shenge. The district is the lar ...
(in the current
Southern Province) to a famous
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
cleric and scholar from the
Fulah tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
. Tejan-Sie was educated at the
Bo School
The Bo Government Secondary School commonly known as Bo School is a secondary school located on a property in the center of Bo, the second largest city in Sierra Leone. The school was founded in 1906 at the behest of the British colonial govern ...
and the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...
School before continuing his education at the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 milli ...
and
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincol ...
, where he was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1951.
Political career
In 1951, Tejan-Sie lost an election for a seat in the Parliament; despite this he was appointed as one of the two National Vice Presidents of the SLPP in 1953. However, in 1957, after losing his second election, Tejan-Sie began a career in the judiciary. In 1962, he was elected to the position made empty in the legislature of
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...
by Sir
Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston
Sir Henry Josiah Lightfoot Boston, GCMG (19 August 1898 – 14 December 1969) was a Sierra Leonean diplomat and politician. He was the first Sierra Leonean Governor-General of Sierra Leone. He was a member of the Creole ethnic group (descendant ...
,
who became
Governor-General of Sierra Leone
This is a list of the heads of state of Sierra Leone, from the independence of the Sierra Leone in 1961 to the present day.
From 1961 to 1971 the head of state under the Constitution of Sierra Leone, Constitution of 1961 was the queen of Sier ...
.
In 1967, a military coup overthrew the government and set up the
National Reformation Council The National Reformation Council, or NRC, was a group of senior military officers with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman, who seized control of the Sierra Leone Government of Sierra Leone, government on March 23, 1967. They suspended the ...
. Tejan-Sie was appointed to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, which he held until 1968. In that same year, when civilian control was restored, he was appointed as Governor-General. In 1971, when Sierra Leone was declared a
republic
A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...
, Tejan-Sie went into exile in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, where lived for the rest of his life, although he did visit Sierra Leone again in 1987 at the behest of then President
Joseph Saidu Momoh
Major General Joseph Saidu Momoh, OOR, OBE (January 26, 1937 – August 3, 2003) served as President of Sierra Leone from November 1985 to 29 April 1992.
Early life and education
Joseph Saidu Momoh was born on January 26, 1937, in Binkolo, B ...
.
References
External links
*https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/sep/12/guardianobituaries1
Sierra Leone People's Party biography of Tejan-Sie
1917 births
2000 deaths
Knights Bachelor
Speakers of the Parliament of Sierra Leone
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Sierra Leonean knights
20th-century Sierra Leonean judges
Governors-General of Sierra Leone
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Sierra Leone People's Party politicians
Chief justices of Sierra Leone
People from Moyamba District
Sierra Leonean Fula people
{{SierraLeone-politician-stub