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.
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.
[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).
[9] 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.
[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.