Dr. Christiana Ayoka Mary Thorpe (born 16 August 1949 in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

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 , Sierra ...

) is a former two-term Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission, an independent agency created by the Sierra Leone government to organise and supervise national, regional and local elections. She is the first woman Chief Electoral Commissioner in the country's history. She was also a Deputy Minister of Education in the 1990s. In March 2016, she was appointed a Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology, though one source states that Parliamentary approval was still pending.

Early life

Thorpe grew up in one of Freetown's poorest communities. In 1952, she and a younger sister went to live with their grandmother Christiana (for whom she was named) in the poor neighbourhood of Kroo Bay because their parents were overburdened with a large family (eventually eight children). The elder Christiana was a washerwoman and herbalist who was to have a great influence on her. She and her sister were the only girls in the neighbourhood who went to school. She used to teach what she had learned to other girls, discovering that she loved teaching. After she completed secondary school, she left for Ireland, where she studied in a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

and became a nun. She attended

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

and obtained a degree, followed by a master's and a Ph.D. in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...

Career in education and government

She returned to Sierra Leone and became the principal of St. Joseph's Secondary School for girls in

Makeni Makeni is the largest city in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The city is the capital of Bombali District, and is the economic center of the Northern Province. Makeni is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population. The city of M ...

, a village north of the capital city of

. After 20 years as a nun, she found that following convent rules and regulations conflicted with her teaching, and she made the painful decision to leave the convent. When

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Valentine Strasser Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser (born 26 April 1967) is an ex-military leader who served as Heads of Government of Sierra Leone, head of state of Sierra Leone from 1992 to 1996. Previously a junior military officer he became the world's yo ...

seized power in 1992, Dr. Thorpe was the only woman in his cabinet of 19 ministers, serving as Deputy Minister of Education. In 1995, she formed and chaired the Sierra Leone branch of the

Forum for African Women Educationalists The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a pan-African non-governmental organization founded in 1992 by five women ministers of education to promote girls’ and women’s education in sub-Saharan Africa by making sure they have acc ...

. In 2005,

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (February 16, 1932 – March 13, 2014) was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, Ka ...

, President of Sierra Leone, asked her to head the National Electoral Commission. She served as Chief Electoral Commissioner for two consecutive five-year terms, although when then-President

Ernest Bai Koroma Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is a Sierra Leone, Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018. Born and raised in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone, Koroma spent mo ...

nominated her for her second term, the opposition

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 do ...

raised concerns about the neutrality of the commission and walked out of Parliament in protest. She introduce the Biometric Voter Registration system, which combats voter registration fraud. After the end of her second term, in 2016, she was appointed one of two Deputy Ministers of Education, Science and Technology in a cabinet reshuffle, though one source states that Parliamentary approval was still pending as of April.

Honours

Thorpe has received one of the 2006 Voices of Courage Awards from the

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children The Women's Refugee Commission is a 501(c)(3) Non-Governmental Organization that aims to improve the lives and protect the rights of Women, Children, and Youth displaced by conflict or crisis. Established in 1989 by Norwegian Actress and film ...

. On November 3, 2014, the

International Foundation for Electoral Systems The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an international, non-profit organization founded in 1987. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the organization provides assistance and support for elections and electoral stakeholders in ne ...

presented to her the Joe C. Baxter Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe, Christiana Living people 1949 births Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leonean educators Former Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Alumni of University College Dublin 20th-century Roman Catholic nuns