Desmond Luke

Desmond Edgar Fashole Luke is a former politician and lawyer in Sierra Leone. Luke had served as foreign minister (1973-1975), Minister of Health (1977-1978), and ambassador to the West Germany (1969-1973), France (1971-1973) and the European Economic Community (1971-1973) 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 as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and retired in 2002 from that position. Luke is an alumnus of Cambridge University and Oxford University. Luke was a strong supporter of Kabbah's government-in-exile after the 1997 coup by Johnny Paul Koroma. He is a member of the Krio and Sherbro ethnic groups.

External links

• Announcement of Luke's appointment