SIR SALAKO AMBROSIUS BENKA-COKER
Sir Salako Ambrosius Benka-Coker (June 16, 1900-December 7, 1965) was the first Sierra Leonean to become Chief Justice, serving from 1960 to 1963.
The son of Ambrose Benka-Coker, a civil servant who had worked in Nigeria, Salako was educated first at the Church Missionary Society(C.M.S.) Grammar School. He entered Fourah Bay College (then affiliated with the university of Durham) in 1916, and took his B.A. there in 1918. He then taught school for a year, after which he worked as a mercantile clerk for two years, from 1919-21. He then went to England, where he had Law in London, and was called to the Bar of the middle temple in January 1926.
He went to the Gambia the same year and engaged in private practice in Bathurst (now Banjul). From 1926-35, the year in which he left the Gambia to return to Sierra Leone, he was the Commissioner for the Boys Scouts of the Gambia, and in 1929 took the Gambia contingent to scouts to the world Jamboree of Scouts held in Birkenhead England in 1932 he married Hannah Lukel.
In Sierra Leone, he continued to practice from 1932-43, when he was appointed Crown Council, a post he held for ten years. He became Solicitor- General in 1953 and acting Attorney-General for some months in 1954-55, and again in 1956. In 1957, he became an acting puisne Judge, holding the post substantively in 1958. He was also vice-chairman of the Sierra Leone Football Association in 1961.
He became acting Chief Justice in 1959, and was appointed substantive Chief Justice in 1961 he was knighted, and in 1962 received the honorary degree of doctor of civil Law from Durham university.
During his term as Chief Justice, Sir Salako acted as Governor General on four occasions. He died in 1966 after a distinguished legal career.
ARTHUR ABRAHAM
