Paul Sengeh Reflects on Political Pressure and Public Health Career During Civil War
Alex Fefegula Harding Paul Sengeh, a veteran public health specialist, has recounted how political pressure and civil unrest shaped his professional journey, including his decision to return to Sierra Leone after studying medical statistics in Canada.
Sengeh made the remarks Saturday during an interview with Echo Media, reflecting on his years in public service and his experiences during periods of political instability.
He said he obtained a master’s degree in medical statistics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, before returning to Sierra Leone to continue his career.
According to Sengeh, he had relatives in the United States who encouraged him to remain there, but he chose to return to Sierra Leone around 1984 to resume his professional responsibilities.
He recalled working in the Ministry of Health and described himself as the country’s first medical statistician, although that distinction has not been independently verified.
Sengeh also discussed his experiences during the country’s one-party political era, saying he was uncomfortable with political participation that he believed was imposed on citizens against their wishes.
He said his reservations about partisan politics influenced his decisions while working in public service.
Reflecting on the period surrounding the civil war and the 1997 Armed Forces Revolutionary Council takeover, Sengeh described circumstances that eventually led him to continue his professional work outside Sierra Leone.
He said he later worked in Guinea before taking up a national-level role involving monitoring and surveillance. However, the exact organization and details of his work during that period were not clear in the interview transcript.
Sengeh’s professional profile on the Statistics Sierra Leone website documents his postgraduate qualification in medical statistics and decades of experience in government, health planning, monitoring and evaluation. It also records his subsequent work with UNICEF from 1998 to 2012.
His account offers a personal perspective on the challenges of sustaining a public health career amid political instability and conflict in Sierra Leone.