Charles Margai

Early life Charles Francis Kondo Margai was born on 19 August 1945 in Bonthe, Bonthe District in southern British Sierra Leone. He is the natural son of Sir Albert Margai, second Prime Minister of Sierra Leone. His uncle, Sir Milton Margai, was Sierra Leone's first Prime Minister.

National Unity Party In the aftermath of Margai's failure to become the SLPP presidential candidate, he joined the National Unity Party and ran in the 1996 parliamentary election. From November 1999 he was Minister of Safety and Security.

Infighting in the SLPP On 6 January 2002, Kabbah requested that Margai clarify reports that the latter planned to seek the SLPP party leadership, which was held by Kabbah. Margai resigned as a minister on 8 January 2002 following a meeting with Kabbah, in which Kabbah expressed concern that the country might appear unstable and might therefore receive less aid from abroad.

On 9 January, Margai confirmed his plans to seek the leadership of the SLPP and its presidential nomination, describing himself as the best person for the position and saying that he had resigned from the cabinet "in the interest of good governance and for the people of this nation" due to "mistrust" between himself and Kabbah.

On 8 March, however, the High Court ruled that he was not technically a member of the SLPP, preventing him from seeking the nomination, which was won by Kabbah.

People's Movement for Democratic Change In early October 2005, he broke with the SLPP to form a new party, the People's Movement for Democratic Change. Margai faced difficulty in getting the PMDC officially registered, which he alleged was due to Kabbah deliberately delaying appointments to the Political Parties Commission which would enable the registration, thereby giving Berewa's campaign an advantage in time.

The PMDC was officially registered on 19 January 2006.

Arrest On 7 December 2005, Margai was arrested in connection with an incident on 18 November in which his supporters blocked a convoy that included Berewa, leading to accusations that Margai was behind it as an attempt to kill Berewa. Margai denied this, saying that his supporters had acted spontaneously.

2007 election In the August 2007 presidential election, Margai took third place with 13.9% of the vote, behind Ernest Bai Koroma of the opposition All People's Congress (APC) and the SLPP's Berewa.

At his birthday party on 19 August, he said that he was backing the APC's Koroma for the second round of the election. On 24 August, he said that the PMDC would campaign together with the APC for the second round The alliance he formed with the APC thwarted the SLPP's chances to win the 2007 election and thus Margai became the kingmaker of the Koroma presidency. However, the PMDC's constitution did not permit him to join a government led by the APC.

The PMDC won 0.4% of the vote.

Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone

Margai was appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Sierra Leone by President Julius Maada Bio on 16 April 2018.

Shortly after he received his appointment, a memo from Margai to President Bio was leaked during the first week of June 2018 requesting permission to dismiss the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone, the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission and other officials. The memo also indicated that he wanted the president to form a commission of inquiry to investigate the finances of members of the former APC government.

With a tenure of less than two months, Margai is the shortest ever serving Attorney General and Minister Justice in the history of Sierra Leone.