Tinga Seisay

Samuel Tinga Khendekha Seisay (22 August 1928 – 4 February 2015) was a Sierra Leonean diplomat and pro-democracy activist.

Born to a prominent political family, Seisay was educated at St. Edward's Secondary School. After graduating from the Police Training School at Hastings, he began his career as a law enforcement officer.

After several years with the Sierra Leone Police Force, Seisay traveled to Europe to continue his studies where he studied engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. While he was a student, Seisay had a life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. in Stockholm, which deepened his interest in nonviolent activism.

Seisay earned a master's degree in political science at Long Island University. He is a Ph.D. candidate at The New School in New York City.

In 1967, Seisay founded the Sierra Leone Ex-Police Officers Association.

He was elected as their representative to the Civilian Rule Committee, that was going to restore civilian rule in Sierra after the military government of Andrew Juxon-Smith. In 1968, Juxon Smith's government was overthrown in the Sergeants' Coup. Seisay was then appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Sierra Leonean Police Force by the ruling junta. Seisay proved to be most efficient in this post, especially considering the difficult political climate, and skillfully helped manage the transition.

Seisay was initially tapped to serve as Sierra Leone's Ambassador to Egypt but was instead appointed Consul General to the United States. He was stationed in New York where he served for six years. He worked to secure educational scholarships for Sierra Leonean students in various fields, primarily education.

Under his leadership, the Sierra Leone Consulate became financially self-sufficient. Seisay also served as Dean of the Consular Corps.