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1/2 CENT COIN - SIERRA LEONE - SIR MILTON MARGAI
(KM 16)

Date: A.D. 1964

Obverse: Portrait head right - UNITY FREEDOM JUSTICE SIR MILTON MARGAI

Reverse: Denomination between two Bonga shad fish - SIERRA LEONE HALF CENT 1964

Sir Milton Augustus Strieby Margai was the first prime minister of independent Sierra Leone. He attended medical school in the United Kingdom, then returned to Sierra Leone to work for the colonial administration.

He co-founded the nationalist Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) which won the 1951 election to the Legislative Council. After heading the departments of Health, Agriculture, and Forestry, he was elected chief minister in 1954.

As Sierra Leone headed for independence, Margai oversaw the creation of a new constitution for the colony, Upon its adoption, in 1958, he became premier. Knighted in 1959, he was prime minister at the time of independence on April 27, 1961, and won the ensuing election in 1962. Margai died in office in 1964, the year this coin was minted and was succeeded as prime minister by his brother Albert Margai.

Sir Milton is the only post-Independence leader of Sierra Leone still universally admired and respected by the people of that country.