This is a list of chief ministers and prime ministers of Sierra Leone, from the establishment of the office of Chief Minister in 1954 until the present day. The office of Prime Minister was abolished after the constitutional referendum in 1978, and reinstated in 2018 with the appointment of David J. Francis. The Chief Minister is not the head of government of Sierra Leone which uses a presidential system with a executive president and has since the end of the Monarchy of Sierra Leone in 1971.

List of officeholders

;Political parties

;Other factions

;Symbols

Died in office

Chief minister of Sierra Leone Protectorate

In 1953, Sierra Leone was granted local ministerial powers and Milton Margai was made Chief Minister and later prime minister. A new constitution ensured Sierra Leone a parliamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations and was formally adopted in 1958.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Portrait

! rowspan="2" |Name<br />

! rowspan="2" |Election

! colspan="3" |Term of office

! rowspan="2" |Political party

|-

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 1

| 90px

| Sir Milton Margai<br />

| 1951<br />1957

| 1954

| 1958

|

| SLPP

|}

Prime minister of Sierra Leone Protectorate

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Portrait

! rowspan="2" |Name<br />

! rowspan="2" |Election

! colspan="3" |Term of office

! rowspan="2" |Political party

|-

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 1

| 90px

| Sir Milton Margai<br />

| —

| 1958

| 1961

|

| SLPP

|}

Prime ministers of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone was granted independence by the Sierra Leone Independence Act 1961 and became a free state with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. In 1971, Sierra Leone became a republic with Siaka Stevens as executive president.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Portrait

! rowspan="2" |Name<br />

! rowspan="2" |Election

! colspan="3" |Term of office

! rowspan="2" |Political party

|-

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 1

| 90px

| Sir Milton Margai<br />

| 1962

| 1961

| 1964

|

| SLPP

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 2

| 90px

| Sir Albert Margai<br />

| —

| 1964

| 1967

|

| SLPP

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 3

| 90px

| Siaka Stevens<br />

| 1967

| colspan=2| 1967<br />

| Several minutes

| APC

|}

Military rule (1967–1968)

The NRC was a group of senior military officers who took power in 1967 removing Siaka Stevens from the office of prime minister and ruled the nation from 1967 to 1968. The NRC was overthrown in April 1968 by a group of military officers who reinstated Stevens as Prime Minister.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Portrait

! rowspan="2" |Name<br />

! colspan="3" |Term of office

! rowspan="2" |Political party

|-

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

|-

! style="background:;"|

| 90px

| David Lansana<br />

| 1967

| 1967<br />

|

| Military

|-

! style="background:;"|

| 90px

| Leslie William Leigh<br /><br />

| 1967

| 1967

|

| Military

|-

! style="background:;"|

| 90px

| Andrew Juxon-Smith<br /><br />

| 1967

| 1968<br />

|

| Military

|-

! style="background:;"|

| 90px

| John Amadu Bangura<br /><br />

| 1968

| 1968

|

| Military

|}

Prime ministers of Sierra Leone

Siaka Stevens was reinstated by a group of military officers who overthrew NRC. In 1971, Stevens abolished the monarchy and he made Sierra Leone a republic with himself as an executive president.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Portrait

! rowspan="2" |Name<br />

! rowspan="2" |Election

! colspan="3" |Term of office

! rowspan="2" |Political party

|-

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

|-

! style="background:; color:white"|

| 90px

| Siaka Stevens<br />

| —

| 1968

| 1971

|

| APC

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 4

| 90px

| Sorie Ibrahim Koroma<br />

| 1973

| 1971

| 1975

|

| APC

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 5

| 90px

| Christian Alusine Kamara-Taylor<br />

| 1977

| 1975

| 1978

|

| APC

|}

Chief ministers of Sierra Leone

From 2018 to present, Sierra Leone has operated under a presidential system, whereby the Chief Minister is not the head of government, but mainly existed in a capacity of assisting the President.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|-

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" |Portrait

! rowspan="2" |Name<br />

! rowspan="2" |Election

! colspan="3" |Term of office

! rowspan="2" |Political party

|-

! Took office

! Left office

! Time in office

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 6

| 90px

| David J. Francis<br />

| 2018

| 2018

| 2021

|

| SLPP

|-

! style="background:; color:white"| 7

| 90px

| Jacob Jusu Saffa<br />

| —

| 2021

| 2023

|

| SLPP

|-

! style="background:;"| 8

| 90px

| David Moinina Sengeh<br />

| 2023

| 2023

| Incumbent

|

| Independent

|}

Timeline

See also

  • List of colonial governors of Sierra Leone
  • President of Sierra Leone
  • List of heads of state of Sierra Leone
  • World Statesmen - Sierra Leone