director politician Minister of Agriculture
Joseph Sam Sesay was born in 1959 in the rural village of Kamasasa, Tonko Limba chiefdom, Kambia District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone to ethnic Limba parents. His father was a clergyman and his mother was a farmer. His father established the Wesleyan School and Church in Tonko Limba chiefdom.
Sam Sesay attended primary school in Kamakwie, Bombali District and then proceeded to the Wesleyan Secondary School also in Kamakwie.
He was appointed to the position in October 2007 by president Ernest Bai Koroma. Sam Sesay later taught at the Pampana High School in Magburaka, and Baton Memorial School in Makeni. In 1981, he moved to Russia, where he completed Master of Science . and Doctor of Philosophy (candidate of Science) degrees at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in Moscow.
Sesay has also undergone postgraduate studies at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, the Netherlands.
He also completed a certificate programme at the World Bank. In 1992 to 2000, he worked in the Planning Evaluation Monetary and Statistics division of the then Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
In April 2000 he moved over to the National Commission for Resettlement Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (NCRRR) as Programme Manager and Evaluation Unit, after which he became Director of that unit In 2004, Sesay had two offers, one - to go as the Director of Planning at the Commonwealth, and two, to work as the Civil Affairs Officer with the United Nations in Liberia.
He decided to work in Liberia and was in charge of the civil affairs unit responsible for the Forestry Development Authority.
