Winstanley Bankole Johnson

Winstanley Bankole Johnson is a Sierra Leonean politician and served as mayor of Freetown 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.

Controversies

Burial of Samuel Hinga Norman

Johnson denied Norman, a man accused of war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, 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 activists and former Kamajors members.

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.

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.

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, Thomas Peters (one of the founders of Freetown) and Sengbe Pieh (of The Amistad).

Sources

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