Winstanley Bankole Johnson - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Winstanley Bankole Johnson is a Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

an politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

and served as mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

of Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

from July 2004 until he was sacked by his fellow members of the Freetown-city Council on January 17, 2008. Johnson was appointed mayor in July 2004 and is a member of the opposition All Peoples Congress. Johnson came to power as the APC swept 2004 municipal elections.

Burial of Samuel Hinga Norman

Johnson denied Norman

Samuel Hinga Norman

Samuel Hinga Norman was a Sierra Leonean politician from the Mende tribe. He was the founder and leader of the traditional Civil Defence Forces, commonly known as the Kamajors. The Kamajors fought under the supported the government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah against the Revolutionary United Front,...

, a man accused of war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Special Court for Sierra Leone

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is an independent judicial body set up to "try those who bear greatest responsibility" for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 during the Sierra Leone Civil War...

, a civil burial service. He did this despite the fact that President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah said that Norman deserved such a burial because he had never been convicted of any charges, only accused. Johnson also upset fellow APC members of the city council, Civil Society

Civil society

Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...

activists and former Kamajors

Kamajors

The Kamajors are a group of traditional hunters from the Mende ethnic group in the south and east of Sierra Leone...

members. http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_20054916.shtml

Funding of Freetown cleaning operations

In October 2005, Johnson and the APC accused the federal government of not allocating enough funds to clean Freetown in an effort to discredit the party before the 2007 federal elections

Sierra Leonean general election, 2007

Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Sierra Leone on 11 August 2007. Seven candidates competed in the first round of the presidential election; no candidate received the necessary 55% of the vote to win in the first round, and a second round was held between the top two candidates,...

. http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=395

Oswald Hanciles allegations

Oswald Hanciles, a fellow Creole and writer and commentator, levelled charges of defamatory libel against Johnson for his comments concerning the funding of Freetown's cleaning operations. http://www.thepatrioticvanguard.com/article.php3?id_article=984

Street renaming project

In March 2007, Johnson and the city council agreed to rename various prominent streets in Sierra Leone after prominent figures in the anti-slavery crusade. These people include: Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano also known as Gustavus Vassa, was a prominent African involved in the British movement towards the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807...

, Thomas Peters

Thomas Peters (black leader)

Thomas Peters was one of the Black Loyalist Founding Fathers of Sierra Leone. Peters, along with David George, Moses Wilkinson, Cato Perkins, and Joseph Leonard, were influential blacks who recruited African settlers in Nova Scotia for colonization of Sierra Leone...

(one of the founders of Freetown) and Sengeh Pieh (of The Amistad).

Sources

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