Political party Independent Religion Roman Catholic | Name Henry Joko-Smart Role Statesman | |
Dr. Henry M. Joko-Smart (born 15 June 1934, Bonthe, Sierra Leone) is a former Sierra Leonean law professor, educator and Supreme Court justice.
Joko-Smart attended St. Edward's Secondary School in Freetown and Fourah Bay College. He obtained a B.A. in classics and a diploma in education from the University of Durham, UK, LL.B. (first class honours) and LL.M. from the University of Sheffield, UK, and a Ph.D. in law from the Law School at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in London in 1965.
He had a lucrative practice in Freetown in the 1960s. From 1966 to 2000, he was a lecturer, senior lecturer, professor of law, and dean of the faculty of law of Fourah Bay College, a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone. From 2000 to 2005, he served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone.
Joko-Smart was the chairman of the Sierra Leone Anti-corruption Commission between 2006 and 2007, replacing Val Collier. However, the UK government, a major foreign aid donor to Sierra Leone, was considering withholding £15 million in aid because it was believed that he was carrying out his duties very poorly. Joko-Smart claimed he resigned of his own volition, rather than being forced out.
He has also served the United Nations in several capacities, including as chairman of the 21st and 35th sessions of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (in 1988 and 2002, respectively), and a member of the panel of arbitrators of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Geneva, Switzerland.
Joko-Smart is married to Daisy Smart, nee Tucker. They have four children and four grandchildren.