Sir Alexander Ransford Slater KCMG CBE (28 November 1874 – 1940) was a British colonial administrator, who served as governor of Sierra Leone, the Gold Coast and Jamaica.
[4] His first official act as governor was to tour the protectorate to listen to the district commissioners, the chiefs, the members of the CEA, and the people.
Slater oversaw the introduction of the 1924 constitution, which allowed Africans to gain representative power in Sierra Leone's government.
[10][11][12] From January 14 to February 26, 1926, all grades of the African workers within the Railway Department of the Sierra Leone Government participated in a strike.
[12] This strike represented the first time a trade union in Sierra Leone was effective in politically organizing with a set organizational structure.
It is also the first strike and act of political disobedience in which the Creole elite identified with and supported the strikers and the working class against the British colonizing power.
[11] Slater was put in a somewhat awkward position as he agreed with the strikers but was instructed by the colonial office not to "capitulate" with their demands as they believed this would set a negative precedent.
In March 1925, for example, they petitioned the general manager to introduce a grading system, in order to create more jobs and generate greater efficiency.
It was this union, the aligning of clerks and daily-paid workers, who otherwise would advocate separately for their interests, which channeled and articulated the grievances of its members.
[11] On January 14, 1926, the strike officially began and the colonial office instructed Slater to adopt a staunch resistance policy, which resulted in Freetown being placed under police and military surveillance and the sale of intoxicating liquors to be prohibited for specific periods.
[13] During the strike, the strikers removed the rails in front of the general manager's train, removed the rails on curves or steep banks and at the approach to a bridge, pulled down telegraph poles and cut wires, inhibiting telegraphic communication with the protectorate and other ways of showing their discontent.
"[11] On January 21, a meeting of ratepayers and citizens took place at Wilberforce Memorial Hall and was chaired by the deputy mayor, the veteran politician J.A.
Governor Slater was informed of these resolutions, but on February 15 he rejected the workers' counter-proposal to have the secretary of state establish a Commission of Enquiry and return working conditions to the status quo ante.
Richards, leader of the strike, remarked that "While I am ultimately unsatisfied with this outcome, I do commend the governor (Slater) for having proved that he is always willing to listen, and that he has no desire to be a despot.
[17] An example of further civil disobedience would be the 1935 and 1938 strikes by workers at the then newly opened Sierra Leone Development Company (DELCO), mining iron ore at Marampa.
[14] Slater departed Sierra Leone in September 1927, having generally established a reputation as being a very "pro-African" governor, despite the "drama" of the strike episode.