Christiana Thorpe

Dr. Christiana Ayoka Mary Thorpe (born 16 August 1949 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is a former two-term Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission, an independent agency created by the Sierra Leone government to organise and supervise national, regional and local elections.[1] She is the first woman Chief Electoral Commissioner in the country's history.[1] She was also a Deputy Minister of Education in the 1990s. In March 2016, she was appointed a Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology,[2][3][4] though one source states that Parliamentary approval was still pending.[5]

Christiana Thorpe
former Chief Electoral Commissioner of the Sierra Leone Electoral Commission
Preceded byJames Jonah
Personal details
Born(1949-08-16)August 16, 1949
Freetown, Sierra Leone
NationalitySierra Leonean
ResidenceFreetown, Sierra Leone
Alma materUniversity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Early life

Thorpe grew up in one of Freetown's poorest communities.[6] In 1952, she and a younger sister went to live with their grandmother Christiana (for whom she was named) in the poor neighbourhood of Kroo Bay because their parents were overburdened with a large family (eventually eight children).[7][8] The elder Christiana was a washerwoman and herbalist who was to have a great influence on her.[7][8] She and her sister were the only girls in the neighbourhood who went to school.[7][8] She used to teach what she had learned to other girls, discovering that she loved teaching.[7][8]

After she completed secondary school, she left for Ireland, where she studied in a convent and became a nun.[1] She attended University College Dublin and obtained a degree, followed by a master's and a Ph.D. in the British West Indies.[9]

Career in education and government

She returned to Sierra Leone and became the principal of St. Joseph's Secondary School for girls in Makeni, a village north of the capital city of Freetown.[1][6] After 20 years as a nun, she found that following convent rules and regulations conflicted with her teaching, and she made the painful decision to leave the convent.[1][6][10]

When Captain Valentine Strasser seized power in 1992, Dr. Thorpe was the only woman in his cabinet of 19 ministers, serving as Deputy Minister of Education.[1][10][11] In 1995, she formed and chaired the Sierra Leone branch of the Forum for African Women Educationalists.[1][10]

In 2005, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone, asked her to head the National Electoral Commission.[1][8] She served as Chief Electoral Commissioner for two consecutive five-year terms, although when then-President Ernest Bai Koroma nominated her for her second term, the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party raised concerns about the neutrality of the commission and walked out of Parliament in protest.[12] She introduce the Biometric Voter Registration system, which combats voter registration fraud.[9]

After the end of her second term, in 2016, she was appointed one of two Deputy Ministers of Education, Science and Technology in a cabinet reshuffle,[2][3][4] though one source states that Parliamentary approval was still pending as of April.[5]

Honours

Thorpe has received one of the 2006 Voices of Courage Awards from the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.[13]

On November 3, 2014, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems presented to her the Joe C. Baxter Award.[14]

References
  1. Michael Davies-Venn (17 October 2007). "Sierra Leone's Chief National Electoral Commissioner Dr. Christiana Thorpe". Worldpress. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  2. "President Koroma's Cabinet: 13 March 2016 to Present". sierra-leone.org.
  3. Lansana Fofana (31 March 2016). "MPs Grill Christiana Thorpe". globaltimes-sl.com.
  4. Kemo Cham (14 March 2016). "Sierra Leone President overhauls government". africareview.com.
  5. Lansana Fofanah (6 April 2016). "Why Christiana Thorpe Was Not Approved". globaltimes-si.com.
  6. Umaru Fofana (21 August 2007). "The ex-nun running Sierra Leone's polls". BBC News.
  7. Miller, Whitney McIntyre; Wundah, Michael (2015). "Peace Profile: Christiana Thorpe". Peace Review. 27 (4): 515–521. doi:10.1080/10402659.2015.1094347. S2CID 146503956.
  8. Taylor-Pearce, Modupe; James, Brian (10 October 2014). How I Made It: Striking Sustainable Success In Sierra Leone. Lulu Publishing Services. pp. 66–. ISBN 9781483419091.
  9. "Forging ahead for free and equal elections". UN Women. 31 August 2015.
  10. "Christiana Thorpe". Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. Archived from the original on 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  11. Dr. Sylvia Olayinka Blyden, OOR (24 August 2012). "What about Civilians in Sierra Leone's NPRC Military Junta? - A Look at Opposition Browbeating to Silence Bio's Critics". Awareness Times. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  12. Bangura, Joseph J.; Mustapha, Marda (29 April 2016). Democratization and Human Security in Postwar Sierra Leone. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 113–. ISBN 9781137486745.
  13. "Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children: Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
  14. "IFES Presents the Joe Baxter Award to Dr. Christiana Thorpe". International Foundation for Electoral Systems. 20 November 2014.
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