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Sierra Leone
10th Anniversary of the Bank
1974 Proof Silver Leone 37mm (28.64 grams) 0.925 Silver (0.8356 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 26a
◦UNITY◦FREEDOM◦JUSTICE◦DR. SIAKA STEVENS, Head of Dr. Stevens right.
BANK OF SIERRA LEONE 10th ANNIVERSARY 1964-1974 ONE I LEONE, Lion emblem of Sierra Leone.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens’ leadership was often characterised by patrimonial rule and self worship, consolidating power by means of corruption and exploitation.
Stevens and his All People’s Congress (APC) party won the closely contested 1967 Sierra Leone general elections over incumbent Prime Minister Sir Albert Margai of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). In April 1971, Stevens made Sierra Leone a republic and became president a day after the constitution had been ratified by the Parliament of Sierra Leone. He was the second President of the Republic after Christopher Okoro Cole, a judge, who was sworn in for a day after which he resigned, paving the way for Stevens.
Stevens served as Chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) from 1 July 1980 to 24 June 1981 and engineered the creation of the Mano River Union, a three-country economic federation of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Stevens retired from office at the end of his term on 28 November 1985. After pressuring all other potential successors to step aside, he chose Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh, the commander of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces, as his successor.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north-east, Liberia to the south-east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south-west. Sierra Leone has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savannah to rainforests. The country has a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,075,641 (based on 2015 national census). It is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature.
Sierra Leone is made up of five administrative regions: the Northern Province, Northwestern Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area, which are subdivided into sixteen districts. Each district has its own directly elected local government. Freetown (population 1,050,301), located in the Western Area, is Sierra Leone’s capital, largest city and its economic centre. Kenema (population 200,354) is Sierra Leone second largest city, and is about 200 miles from Freetown, in the Eastern province of the country, Other major cities in Sierra Leone are Bo, Koidu Town and Makeni.
Sierra Leone became independent from the United Kingdom on 27 April 1961 led by Sir Milton Margai. The current constitution of Sierra Leone was adopted in 1991, though it has been amended several times. Since independence to present, Sierra Leonean politics has been dominated by two major political parties; the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the All People’s Congress (APC).
From 1991 to 2002, the Sierra Leone civil war was fought and devastated the country. The proxy war left more than 50,000 people dead, much of the country’s infrastructure destroyed, and over two million Sierra Leoneans displaced as refugees in neighbouring countries. In January 2002, then Sierra Leone’s president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, fulfilled his campaign promise by ending the civil war, with help by the British Government, ECOWAS and the United Nations. More recently, the 2014 Ebola outbreak overburdened the weak healthcare infrastructure, leading to more deaths from medical neglect than Ebola itself. It created a humanitarian crisis situation and heavily impacted economic growth. The country has an extremely low life expectancy relative to other countries, at 57.8 years.
About sixteen ethnic groups inhabit Sierra Leone, each with its own language and customs. The two largest and most influential are the Temne and the Mende people. The Temne are predominantly found in the north of the country, while the Mende are predominant in the southeast. Sierra Leone has a significant minority of the Krio people, who are descendants of freed African American and West Indian slaves.
Although English is the official language spoken at schools and government administration, the Krio language, an English-based creole, is the most widely spoken language across Sierra Leone and is spoken by 97% of the country’s population. The Krio language unites all the different ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction with each other.
Sierra Leone is a Muslim majority country, with the overall Muslim population at 78% of the population, though there is an influential Christian minority at about 21%. Sierra Leone is regarded as one of the most religiously tolerant nations in the world. Muslims and Christians collaborate and interact with each other very peacefully. Religious violence is very rare in the country. The major Muslim holidays of Eid al fitr (end of Ramadan), Eid Al Adha, and Mawlid Al Nabi (commemorate the birth of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad) are officially celebrated as national holidays in Sierra Leone. The major Christian holidays of Christmas, Easter, Boxing Day and Good Friday are also officially celebrated as national holidays in Sierra Leone. In politics, the overwhelming majority of Sierra Leoneans vote for a candidate without regard to whether the candidate is a Muslim or a Christian.
Sierra Leone has relied on mining, especially diamonds, for its economic base. It is also among the largest producers of titanium and bauxite, a major producer of gold and has one of the world’s largest deposits of rutile. Sierra Leone is home to the third-largest natural harbour in the world. Despite exploitation of this natural wealth, 70% of its population live in poverty.
Sierra Leone is a member of many international organisations, including the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Mano River Union, the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Development Bank and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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