IPNEWS: Former Liberia interim President Amos C. Sawyer is dead!
According to a dispatch from the United States of America, says the veteran Liberian professor passed on Wednesday, February 16,2022, after a protracted period of illness.
The report follows two years of persistent illness of ‘brain disorder’.
It may be recalled, in August 2020 Doctors at Indiana university (IU) Bloomington Hospital in Indiana, the United states reported the conduct of a successful brain surgery of Dr. Sawyer.
Dr. Amos Sawyer led the Liberia for four years, following an interim arrangement in 1990.
Amos Sawyer, whose anglicized name can be traced back to Christian missionary roots in his father’s birthplace of Sierra Leone, is indeed a former president of the war-torn nation.
Dr. Amos Sawyer is a scholar in the areas of social science, governance, conflict resolution and peace building, he led the country’s transitional government from 1990-1994. It was supposed to be a six-month gig.
“In finding somebody to head the transitional government, they needed someone who didn’t have ambitions to participate in elected government,” Sawyer explained from the kitchen table at his efficiency apartment in Bloomington, Indiana.
selected to become president of the interim government. I was to serve for six months. We were naïve, that’s why I accepted,” he said with a chuckle. “Instead, the negotiations, ceasefire, disarming of various factions, etc. took years. My six months went on for four years.”
He’s been the target of death threats, was imprisoned by a military leader who rejected his attempts to promote democracy, and was placed under house arrest for a year in the 1980s.
With all of that, he has made it his mission in life to bring peace and understanding to people everywhere.
PROFESSOR AT IU
Sawyer, 75, has been traveling back and forth from Liberia to Indiana, for about 35 years now. He was on the faculty at Indiana University for two decades, specializing in political science and policy analysis. He holds a doctorate in political science from Northwestern University.
He treasures the community of researchers, academics and physicians he has found in Bloomington, which is why he has made it his part-time home on and off for years.
But when he returned to Bloomington with his wife last year for a medical checkup, he told his primary care physician he was experiencing pain in his left leg, which then moved into his back. Doctors first thought it might be related to his sciatic nerve and sent him to a pain management specialist, who recommended a series of injections.
Sawyer, eager to return to Liberia to continue his work there, opted to postpone the treatment for a few months and went back to his home country. This was in November 2019. He planned to return to Bloomington in late March, but then COVID struck and travel was restricted.
By then, the pain and weakness in his leg had spread to his left arm, which became so weak he could hardly lift it. Writing (he is left-handed) became increasingly difficult.
Publications
2008 “Emerging Patterns in Liberia’s Post-Conflict Politics: Observations from the 2005 Elections” African Affairs, the Journal of the Royal African Society. Vol. 107 no. 427 (April) pp.177-199.
2006 “Social Capital, Survival Strategies and their Potential for Post-Conflict
Governance in Liberia.” In Basudeb Guha-Khasnobis, Ravi Kanbur and
Elinor Ostrom (eds.) Unlocking Hunan Potential: Formality and Informality in Developing Countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming.)
2005 Beyond Plunder: Toward Democratic Governance in Liberia. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers
2004 “Violent Conflicts and Governance Challenges in West Africa: The Case
of the Mano River Basin Area” Journal of Modern African Studies, vol.43,
no. 2 (September).
2004 “Governance and Democratization in West Africa: The Challenge Facing
The Economic Community of West African States.” In Adekeye Adebajo
(ed.) Towards a Pax West Africana: Building Peace in A Troubled
Sub-Region. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers
1997 Dynamics of Conflict Management in Liberia, Accra: Institute of Economic Affairs, Occasional Papers Series No. 12
“Militaries, Democracies and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: Meeting the Challenge.” In Africans Solving African Problems, Jean Herskovits (ed) International Peace Academy publications, New York.
1992 The Emergence of Autocracy in Liberia: Tragedy and Challenge, San Francisco Institute of Contemporary Studies Press.
1990 Proprietary Authority and Local Administration in Liberia” in James Wunsch and Dele Olowu eds. The Failure of the Centralized State: Institutions and Self-Governance in Africa. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
1988 “The Putu Development Association: A Missed Opportunity” in Vincent Ostrom, 1992 David Feeny and Hartmut Picht, eds. Rethinking Institutional Analysis and Development: Issues, Alternatives and Choices, 2d ed. San Francisco: Institute of Contemporary Studies Press.
“The Development of Autocracy in Liberia” in Ostrom, Feeny and Picht, eds. Rethinking Institutional Analysis and Development: Issues, Alternatives and Choices.
1980 “Social Stratification and National Orientations: Students and non-students in Liberia” in John Paden, ed. Values, Identities, and National Integration: Empirical Research in Africa. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
“Social Stratification, Social Change, and Political Socialization: Students and non-students in Liberia” in John Paden, ed., Values, Identities and National Integration: Empirical Research in Africa. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.
1979 “Labor in Liberia”, with Dew Tuan-Wleh Mayson. Review of African Political Economy. No. 14
1978 “Imbalances of Educational Opportunities in Liberia”, Liberia Educational Review. Vol. 1. No. 1.
1973 Social Stratification and National Development: A Liberian Case Study, Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.
Research Awards:
2001 Research grant by United States Institute of Peace in support of research project on post-conflict reconstruction in West Africa.
Other Publications:
2005 “Liberating Liberia: Understanding the Nature and Needs of Governance.” Harvard International Review vol. 27(3) (Fall).
2000 Sharing the Kola Nut: Understanding Ethnic Conflicts and Building Peace in Liberia, Monrovia: Center for Democratic Empowerment (with Conmany B. Wesseh and Sam P. Ajavon, Jr.)
1987 Effective Immediately: Dictatorship in Liberia 1980 -1986. A Personal Perspective. 2d ed. Cadier en Keer, The Netherlands: The Africa Center
“The Making of the Liberian Constitution: Major Issues and Dynamic Forces” Liberian Studies Journal vol.12
“Human Rights and Self Governance: The Liberian Experience” (Third Acquino Lecture, Yale Law School, New Haven). Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, 513 North Park, Bloomington, Indiana 47408. (Working Paper W87-4)
1984 Social Institution Profiles, Management Practices and Prospects: A Study of the Liberian Agricultural Sector. Co-authored with Jeanette Carter et. al., Institute for Development Anthropology, Binghamton, New York.
1979 “Small Scale Enterprises in Liberia”, Co-authored with Dew Tuan-Wleh Mayson. The World Bank.
Selected Papers and Lectures:
2006 “The 2005 Elections and the Unfolding Pattern of Political Change in
Liberia.” (Paper presented at Working Conference on “Designing Constitutional Arrangements for Democratic governance in Africa: Challenges and Possibilities,” held at Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, March 30-31.
2004 “Social Capital, Survival Strategies and Their Implications for Post-
Conflict in Liberia” (paper presented at 3rd Quintannual Workshop on
the Workshop Conference, Indiana University, 2-6 June)
May 24, 2002 “Human Rights and Constitutional Dilemma in Africa”
Keynote Address, African Dialogue II, organized by United Nations High Commission for Human Rights and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, Tanzania, May 24 – 26, 2002.
Nov. 13, 2001 “Peacemaking and Peace-building: Lessons Learned in Liberia”
Co-Lecturer, Siu Lecture and Symposium,
The International Society for Panetics, Washington, D.C.
October 6, 2001 “Liebenow and the Quest for Democratic Governance
in Africa,” Inaugural Lecture, The J. Gus Liebenow Memorial Lecture
Series, African Studies Program, Indiana University, Bloomington,
Indiana.
June 12, 2001 “Strengthening Africa’s Democratization Agenda to attain Democratic Self-Governance” (Presented at OAU-Civil Society Conference titled Building Partnership for Promoting Peace and Development in Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 11-15 2001.
