Desmond Edgar Fashole Luke (6 October 1935 – 27 February 2021)Lans Gberie
"Desmond Luke: A Profile in Courage"
''The Patriotic Vanguard'' (Sierra Leone), 13 January 2011. was a former politician and lawyer in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. Luke served as foreign minister (1973–75), Minister of Health (1977–78), and ambassador to the

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

(1969–73),

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

(1971–73) and the European Economic Community (1971–73) at various points in his political career. Luke competed in the 1996 presidential election against several other candidates, eventually losing to current President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah after only receiving 1.1% of the vote in the initial round of voting. In March 1998, Luke was appointed to replace

Samuel Beccles-Davies Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bib ...

as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Luke retired from that position in 2002. He was an alumnus of

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. Luke was a strong supporter of Kabbah's government-in-exile after the 1997 coup by

Johnny Paul Koroma Major Johnny Paul Koroma (born 9 May 1960; declared dead 1 June 2003) was the head of state of Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998. Youth and education Koroma was born to Limba people (Sierra Leone), Limba parents in Tombodu, in th ...

Early life and education

A member of the Creole ethnic group, Desmond Edgar Fashole Luke"Luke, Desmond Edgar Fashole, BL, MA", in ''Africa Year Book and Who's Who'', London: Africa Journal Limited, 1976, p. 1225. was born in

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...

British Sierra Leone The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crow ...

, in 1935 into a high-achieving family. His father, Sir Emile Fashole Luke was until 1973 Speaker of the House of Representatives in Sierra Leone."Luke Desmond"
Munzinger. Desmond Luke attended the Prince of Wales Secondary School in Freetown for two years, before going to England in 1949 to continue his education at

King's College, Taunton (Strong and faithful) , established = 1880 , closed = , type = Independent day and boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. From 1954 to 1958 he studied at

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

, earning a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1957, but staying for a further year to study West African medieval history under the historian

Thomas Hodgkin Thomas Hodgkin RMS (17 August 1798 – 5 April 1866) was a British physician, considered one of the most prominent pathologists of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is now best known for the first account of Hodgkin's disease, ...

. Luke continued his studies at

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mar ...

(1959–61), earning an MA in Law.

Political career

Returning to Sierra Leone in 1962, he set up law chambers in Freetown and was in private practice until 1969, when

Siaka Stevens Siaka Probyn Stevens (24 August 1905 – 29 May 1988) was the leader of Sierra Leone from 1967 to 1985, serving as Prime Minister of Sierra Leone, Prime Minister from 1967 to 1971 and as President from 1971 to 1985. Stevens' leadership was ofte ...

appointed him Ambassador to

(accredited to all EU countries). In 1973, Luke was appointed Foreign Minister, which post he held for two years. He subsequently held the post of Minister of Health for a year (1977–78), after which he left the government though remained in Parliament until 1983. He later set up the National Unity Movement (NUM), to advocate constitutional reforms, and under the NUM banner contested, and lost, the 1996 elections. He was appointed Chief Justice in 1998,Magbaily C. Fyle
''Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone''
Scarecrow Press, 2006, p.111. from which position he retired in 2002.

References

External links

* Lans Gberie
"Desmond Luke: A Profile in Courage"
''The Patriotic Vanguard'' (Sierra Leone), 13 January 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Luke, Desmond 1935 births 2021 deaths Sierra Leone Creole people 20th-century Sierra Leonean judges Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Foreign Ministers of Sierra Leone Health ministers of Sierra Leone Ambassadors of Sierra Leone to West Germany Ambassadors of Sierra Leone to France Ambassadors of Sierra Leone to the European Union Chief justices of Sierra Leone People from Freetown Sierra Leonean male high jumpers Sierra Leonean male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Sierra Leone 21st-century Sierra Leonean lawyers