Relying on the work of the Election Investigation Committee (EIC) Presidential candidate and flag-bearer of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC), Dr Samura Kamara has assured his supporters that he is the next President of Sierra Leone although he does not state when.
Kamara made the statement while addressing a mammoth crowd of APC members at the party’s headquarters in Freetown last week.
“I, without any iota of doubt, know that the people of Sierra Leone have voted me in because they believed that I Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara is their next President ,” Kamara addressed jubilant crowds few days ago.
As President, Kamara assured, he would work with SLPP which will soon go into opposition, to address socio-economic challenges of poverty, polarisation and tribalisation of nation, an unbearable and rising cost of living.
Kamara paid particular attention to the Leones currency which, he said, had been on a “free fall” adding that the cost of basic necessities including fuel, food, transportation, healthcare, education, housing and household electricity are rising exponentially since 2018.
As the prices sky-rocketed unabated, he said, there had been no policy to stop them as government appears not in control of the situation.
Kamara believes that the incumbent candidate, President Julius Maada Bio did not honestly win the June 24, 2023 elections despite violence and other forms of rigging employed by the election officials.
“When it became obvious that the violence, intimidation and election malpractices could dampen the spirit of the voters, Mr. Mohamed Konneh and his cohorts went ahead in announcing an unverified results thereby claiming victory and re-electing President Julius Maada Bio,” he recounted.
The APC presidential candidate also spoke about the rogue announcement of SLPP candidates (parliamentarians and councillors) in areas where the ruling party would never imagine of winning a seat except by rigging. “The result lacked credibility,” he emphasised adding that it was a coup against the people of Sierra Leone.
“As a country, we wholeheartedly support peace and reject the blatant electoral coup, that is, the suppression of our common will. We cannot accept an illegitimate take-over of government by force of arms or fraudulent means,” he told his supporters while cautioning them to remain peaceful as the power would come back to APC.
He went on to state that APC members should not allow themselves to be subjected to a premature end to the country’s hard-earned democracy while labeling the Bio regime as one that wanted to retain power despite an abysmal record of bad governance, unprovoked human rights violations, several uninvestigated extra-judicial killings, bad economy that is on the brink of “irreparable collapse.”
Kamara reiterated that the election was massively rigged for Bio to retain power saying such act was out of the law and therefore not correct.
“Since 2018 to date all forms of democracy has been thrown out of the window. This is not how democracy and politics should thrive in any civilised context. Before, during and after the elections, he recounted, APC supporters had suffered politically, socially and economically losing their dignity and relatives being displaced and forced to leave in constant fear or hiding from their neighbours,” he looked back at the recent past.
He however told his supporters that it was needless to take them back to the trials and tribulations of the APC and its unwavering supporters since they had endured intermittent waves of brutality and terror under the Bio’s rule.
“Our journey under the leadership of President Bio has been fraught with unprecedented challenges each one testing our resolve and commitment to restoring diplomatic development momentum, social justice and our lost democracy,” Kamara said while sharing his supporters’ pain and remained shocked at the length to which the PAOPA regime’s desperation had been stretched just to hold on to power.
In this context, Kamara went on, he found it extremely difficult and almost impossible to accept the election results which he continues to fight for but within the confines of the law.
The APC presidential candidate has always rejected the election results and described Bio’s government as an “illegal regime.”
However, Kamara’s address comes at a time he faces a big political hurdle in his party owing to the expiration of his tenure as leader of the party.
APC’s constitution says, a flag-bearer who contests an election and loses must step down after six months and his powers and authority would be exercised by the Chairman of the party.
However, according to the constitution, the substantive leader would continue only six months and his continuity would be determined by a National Delegates’ Conference.
Allegations are widespread that Bio did not genuinely win the election and therefore held and exercised a “stolen mandate.”
Voters’ votes were stolen in his favour thus subverting a fundamental clause in the 1991 Constitution which says “sovereignty belongs to the people of Sierra Leone from whom government, through this constitution, derives its powers, legitimacy and authority.”
Kamara’s current situation is a reflection of the party’s constitutional clause as the elections through which the incumbent, President Bio became President has been one of big-time political contention at the moment.
The results are being investigated by an Election Investigation Committee to ascertain who the true winner is.
Samura Kamara’s mandate came to an end in December 27, 2023, and the party’s executive recently invited him to sound his views about his political future in the party.
APC sources told this press that as a democrat, he respected the party’s constitution by giving up the leadership but retaining his candidacy as the elections are not yet over.
Information reaching this press has confirmed that a National Delegates Conference would soon be summoned by the APC, most likely, to vote for an extension of his leadership until the tripartite committee completes its work.
The committee which comprises officials of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s party (SLPP), the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) and Development Partners is in full swing probing the results as the people of Sierra Leone hope to see a rerun recommendation which Bio is bound to obey.
Despite the constitutional clause, Dr Samura Kamara is the people’s choice at the moment with many arguing that the law could be amended to ensure a continuity until victory is won.
A veteran APC politician previously explained to this press in an interview that the same situation eclipsed President Bio then opposition leader of SLPP whose constitution said a candidate who contested the election and lost became an ex-officio member.
By virtue of the ex-officio clause, the candidate no longer takes active part in the party affairs let alone has a vote. It was this clause that affected late Vice President Solomon Ekuma Berewa who gave up the party’s leadership and candidacy after he lost the 2007 elections to former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
The clause badly bit Bio but was allowed to go again for 2018 without even amending the constitution as SLPP hoped to secure victory in the polls under Bio. Similarly, Samura Kamara is sure to sail through as he enjoyed the backing of the grassroot and senior politicians.
Ahead of the National Delegates’ Conference, Chief Somano Kapen called on APC members to still rally behind Dr Samura Kamara who, he believed, would lead Sierra Leone as President with only time keep him waiting.
Kapen who was SLPP’s Chairman and Leader switched over to APC owing to the confidence he had in Kamara to steer the ship of state.
One-time member of parliament and public works minister, Honourable Kemo Sesay too considers Samura Kamara as the best candidate that will lead APC in this turbulent moment.
The former minister was among those contesting for the party’s flag in February, last year, but he backed out of the race after it became clear that Kamara had great support from the grassroot and delegates.
His overwhelming victory in the convention is a testimony of his growing love, admiration and popularity in the party.
In one of his addresses to APC supporters, he minced no word in declaring that elections were not yet over until they were over. He promised APC that he would start to fight back the day the Election Investigation Committee pronounced that Bio genuinely won the election.
As it stands, Samura Kamara represents the people’s hope as his expertise in managing economies in developing countries will be applied to Sierra Leone the same way President Ahmed Tejan brought peace to the country using his experience as a long-standing UN peace envoy.