James Mancham

Who is James Mancham?

Sir James Richard Marie Mancham was a Seychellois politician and lawyer born on 11 August 1939 on Mahe, who became the first President of Seychelles. Educated in law in England and called to the bar at the Middle Temple, he returned home to practise and entered colonial politics, founding the Seychelles Democratic Party in 1964. As Chief Minister of the British colony through the early 1970s he championed the growth of the tourism industry and the construction of Seychelles International Airport, developments credited with transforming the islands' economy and opening them to the wider world. When Seychelles gained independence from Britain on 29 June 1976, Mancham became its first President in a coalition government with his rival France-Albert Rene. His presidency proved short-lived: in June 1977, while he was in London attending a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, Prime Minister Rene seized power in an armed coup backed by Tanzanian-trained fighters. Mancham lived in exile in Britain for fifteen years before returning to Seychelles in 1992 after the restoration of multiparty politics, later serving as an elder statesman and commentator on small-island development until his death on 8 January 2017.

Sources: James Mancham, Wikipedia · BlackPast.org, "James Richard Marie Mancham (1939-2017)" · New World Encyclopedia, "James Mancham"