Edward Mohamed Turay is a

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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. He was leader of the opposition

All People's Congress The All People's Congress (APC) is one of the two major political parties in Sierra Leone, the other being its main political rival the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP). The APC has been the main opposition party in Sierra Leone since 4 Apr ...

(APC) from 1996 to 2002. He has been Sierra Leone's High Commissioner to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

since 2010.

Background

Education and early years

Turay is from the Temne tribe of northern Sierra Leone and is from

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 ...

. He is a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

by profession, having studied law at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, and been

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 ...

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.) Lincoln ...

in 1976."H.E. Mr. Edward M. Turay, High Commissioner for UK and Northern Ireland"
, Sierra Leone High Commission. Returning to Sierra Leone in 1979, he was a magistrate for three years before engaging in politics in 1982. He is the founder and consultant of Eddie Turay & Associates, a leading law firm 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.

Political career

In 1986 Turay won a seat as a Member of Parliament for

Bombali Bombali is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Makeni, which is also the largest city in the north. The Bombali district is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Bombali is one of the larg ...

Central one Constituency. He was re-elected to parliament from Bombali District's Constituency 33 in the August 2007 parliamentary election, receiving 73.2% of the vote. He was leader of the

(APC) from 1996 until 2002. He contested the 1996 national election for president, but lost the election after gaining just 5.1% of the first round of voting, good enough for fifth place. He was then Minority Leader of the House of Parliament from 1996 to 2002.

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 ...

since took over as parliamentary leader and presidential candidate of the APC, beginning in 2002. On September 25, 2007, when the members of parliament were sworn in, Turay was appointed as leader of the Majority Party, in which position he was also Leader of Government Business. In January 2010, Turay was appointed Sierra Leone's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, accredited to eight other states: Cyprus, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Greece. In May 2014, Turay was awarded the

Grassroot Diplomat Grassroot Diplomat is a global non-profit, non-political, diplomatic consultancy established in 2013. The consultancy specialises in digital diplomacy and public diplomacy working with foreign governments and citizen diplomats to help build positi ...

Initiative Award under the Business Driver category for his extensive work on galvanising diaspora communities across Europe, bringing better visibility to his country and people.

Writing

Turay is the author of an autobiographical book entitled ''The Prophecies of a Father'' (AuthorHouse, 2013), which "revolves around the traditional beliefs and faith of his late father, Paramount Chief Kande Turay of Sanda Chiefdom. Turay’s father comes to represent a benevolence and acceptance of integrating Western beliefs and education with traditional African beliefs."PRWeb
"Sierra Leonean Ambassador Shares Experiences in New Memoir"
11 August 2014.

References

External links

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1NHmpuBSeY "Interview with H.E. Edward M. Turay, Sierra Leone, High Commissioner, UK and Northern Ireland" YouTube. {{DEFAULTSORT:Turay, Edward Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Sierra Leonean judges Members of the Parliament of Sierra Leone High Commissioners of Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom Temne people All People's Congress politicians People from Makeni