Desmond Luke

Desmond Edgar Fashole Luke was a former politician and lawyer in Sierra Leone. Luke served as foreign minister (1973-75), Minister of Health (1977-78), and ambassador to the West Germany (1969-73), France (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 as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Luke retired from that position in 2002. He was 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.