Joseph Saidu Momoh (26 January 1937 – 3 August 2003) was a Sierra Leonean politician and military officer who served as the second President of Sierra Leone from November 1985 to 29 April 1992.
Momoh was a member of the Limba ethnic group and briefly began a career in civil service before joining the military in 1958. Following the rise to power of Siaka Stevens, Momoh was appointed force commander in 1971, promoted to major-general in 1983, and became the secretary general of the country's sole legal party, the All People's Congress in 1985.
Stevens' retired later that year and was succeeded by Momoh after a presidential election in which Momoh was the only candidate. He inherited a deteriorating economy, but made significant improvements in combatting corruption. In foreign policy, he enjoyed positive relations with the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1991, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group incited the Sierra Leone Civil War with the goal of overthrowing him. Later that year, he introduced a new constitution allowing for a multiparty system. Despite this, he was overthrown in a coup d'état the following year led by Valentine Strasser, who cited his government's unpaid salaries and poor logistical supply to frontline soldiers fighting against the RUF as motives. He fled into exile in Guinea, where he died in 2003, one year after the end of the war.
Joseph Saidu Momoh was born on 26 January 1937 in Binkolo, Bombali District in the Northern Province of British Sierra Leone to Limba parents. In the early 1940s, his family moved to Freetown, ultimately settling in Wilberforce. His family were Christians.
From 1951 to 1955, he was educated at the West African Methodist Collegiate School. Momoh was very athletic and enjoyed playing tennis, basketball and volleyball. He played competitive football for the Young Stars FC at Makeni and Blackpool FC.
He completed his education at the Government Clerks School, Technical Institute.
In 1956, Momoh worked as third grade clerk in Sierra Leone's civil service. He resigned from this position in 1958 in order to join the armed forces.
Momoh's military career began in 1958, when he enlisted in the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) as a private. He trained at the Regular Officers Training School in Ghana and the Nigerian Military Training Academy. He then travelled to the United Kingdom to train at the School of Infantry at Hythe and the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot.
He was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Royal Sierra Leone Military Forces in 1963. He was elevated to the rank of major and given command at Moa Barracks, Kailahun.
In 1969, Momoh became lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of the First Battalion. A year later, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel.
He was appointed deputy force commander in 1971 by President Siaka Stevens, after a coup attempt by Brigadier John Amadu Bangura. Momoh succeeded Bangura as force commander in November 1971.
In 1974, he was appointed minister of state with cabinet status. He became major-general in 1983.
In 1985, Momoh became secretary-general and head of the All People's Congress (APC). The same year, he succeeded President Siaka Stevens by becoming the only candidate in a one-party election in the form of a referendum on 8 October 1985.
Momoh became the second President of Sierra Leone and he served from 28 November 1985 to 29 April 1992.
Momoh declared a state of economic emergency early in his rule, granting himself greater control over Sierra Leone's economy, but he was not regarded as a dictator. Instead, his people viewed him as far too weak and inattentive to the affairs of state, allowing his notoriously corrupt advisors to manipulate matters behind the scenes.
Momoh had inherited a disintegrating economy from his predecessor and he was unable to stop the trend. The country's currency decreased in value. Sierra Leone reached the point under President Momoh where it could not afford to import gasoline and fuel oil, and the country went without electricity for months at a time.
Momoh had also inherited a system that was rife with corruption and the instability which corruption led to. Momoh took huge strides to root out graft, cronyism, embezzlement, influence peddling and extortion from within Sierra Leone's government. International observers considered him mostly successful in these endeavors. This led to him forming a good relationship with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and American President Ronald Reagan, who were encouraged by advisors to meet with Momoh and form a good partnership with him as a way of welcoming Sierra Leone out of the instability it had fallen into for so much of the 1970s and 1980s. Both leaders increased aid to Sierra Leone and increased governmental cooperation between their governments and that of Momoh's administration throughout 1987 and early 1988.
On 23 March 1987, police reported that a group of conspirators was plotting to assassinate Momoh and stage a coup d'état after they raided a house in Freetown and discovered a cache of weapons, including rocket launchers.