Sir Banja Tejan-Sie, who has died aged 83, was the last governor-general of Sierra Leone, and played many roles in the life of the former colony both before and after its independence in 1961.
He was brought up and educated in the capital, Freetown, becoming the first member of his family to go to university. Before leaving to study abroad, he worked as a station clerk for Sierra Leone railways and, from 1940 to 1946, as a nurse in the colony's medical department.
That same year he married Admire Stapleton, and left west Africa for the London School of Economics, where he studied law. He was called to the bar in 1951, and, while in London, became an active member of the West African Students' Union, an important organisation which was a hotbed of debate - about the future and independence of Africa - and optimism for students, particularly those from the British west African colonies.
On his return to Sierra Leone, Sir Banja displayed a liking for politics, and joined the nascent Sierra Leone People's party; from 1953 to 1956, he was its vice-president. In 1954, he served as a member of the Keith Lucas commission on electoral reform, which paved the way for a change in the country's electoral system that would eventually lead to the formation of the political parties that later contested Sierra Leone's first democratic elections.
In 1955, Sir Banja became a police magistrate, first for the country's eastern, and then, northern provinces. In 1961, he was appointed senior police magistrate for the whole of the provinces. He also served as speaker of the house of representatives, the Sierra Leone parliament, and, from 1967 to 1970, he was the chief justice of Sierra Leone. During this time, he handed down a landmark judgment affecting the rights to citizenship of those born in Sierra Leone of Lebanese origins.
Sir Banja was appointed governor-general in 1968 - the third and the last person to hold the post before Sierra Leone became a republic in 1971 - overseeing the hand-over to civilian rule following the country's first military coup of 1967. He was knighted in 1970 and, even after retirement, carried on a tireless regime of involvement in many areas, and made countless visits to lend his legal expertise to other African countries and in the Caribbean.
Those who knew Sir Banja will recall a handsome man, who was a sharp dresser, fit and alert, as well as of keen intellect, who never felt too old to learn something new. Apart from his love of music, golf and reading, he embraced computer technology at an early stage and would spend several hours at a time on the internet.
He is survived by his wife and their three children, Daphne, Yomi and Malcolm.