“over my dead body for Samura Kamara to be President of Sierra leone” is Minkailu Mansaray’s prophecy at the peak of his glory days.
The statement which echoes throughout the nook and cranny of Sierra Leone means Samura Kamara will be President only when he passes away.
The prophecy seems to have come true as he passed away, and Samura Kamara is waiting to be sworn in shortly as signs of a political transitions become visible every passing day.
However, Minkailu Mansaray painstakingly worked towards achieving his goal while he was alive.
But, with his death, few months ago, Samura Kamara is highly hopeful of becoming President of Sierra Leone as long as he enjoys the backing of the APC grassroot and members of the international community.
A strong foundation has been laid for Samura’s presidency by the evidence presented at the Tripartite Committee during the election probe.
The evidence showed that Samura Kamara scored 57.15% leaving a little over 37% for President Bio, the incumbent candidate during the polls.
His effort to block Kamara’s presidency is seen before the setting up of the Tripartite Committee, during the Tripartite and after the Tripartite.
The Tripartite Committee came in the aftermath of the Agreement for National Unity (ANU) after June 24, 2023 election.
The election, according to local and international reports, was tampered with to ensure a victory for the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), and therefore called for a probe.
The committee looked into allegations of widespread electoral irregularities that eclipsed the June, 2023 elections and proffered recommendations for electoral reform and accountability.
The investigation will also show who wins the election.
At the outset of the election probe, the vast majority of Sierra Leoneans particularly APC members and supporters expected their leaders to support the process to retrieve APC’s victory.
But, the Mansaray-led executive was in no mood to cooperate with the investigators just to put to an end to a widely expected Samura presidency.
Before the Tripartite, Minkailu Mansaray who was leader of APC was accused of taking no action to expedite the formation of the election investigation body let alone to oppose the ruling party. He was complacent with the outcome of the election while government was dragging its feet to setup the Tripartite Committee, a situation that went on for over a year.
It was a general feeling among the masses that his attempt to derail the election probe was deliberate hoping that the grassroot would forget about it. But, his expectation ended in futility when the US government offered $1.5m to expedite the election investigation.
With the money in hand, the election probe was speedily carried out, and the recommendations had been handed over to the people of Sierra Leone and the international community for implementation.
APC grassroot also claimed that deacesed, Minkailu Mansaray derailed Samura Kamara’s effort to bring back his presidential victory during the Tripartite investigation.
A great number of APC grassroot told this press in a vox pop that Minkailu Mansaray who was supposed to lead the fight to take back the party’s victory sat back, leaving the rest in Samura’s hands.
During the probe, it was only Samura Kamara who tendered shocking evidence (ECSL-approved result reconciliation forms) at the Tripartite Committee to prove his victory.
The evidence, according to political commentators, was shocking so much that even ECSL (electoral Commission for Sierra Leone) cannot challenge it.
Apart from failing to lead the fight, Mansaray also distanced himself and his APC loyalists from the Tripartite investigation. His arm’s length from the election probe became clear when he openly indirectly declared that APC is not part of the tripartite investigation of the polls.
“The Tripartite Committee is doing their own work while we APC are doing their ours,” he told a group of jubilant APC crowd at the party office cheering him up “APC-001.”
The APC-001 nomenclature means that Minkailu Mansaray is the party’s chief executive and the buck stops with him.
It was also at the height of the election probe that Mansaray let open the floodgate of SLPP’s derogatory terms against the APC, a party that widely considered winner of the 2023 polls.
Mansaray accepted the public ridicule from former SLPP chairman, Alex Prince Harding that APC politicians are “mad men” and that power should not be entrusted into their hands.
Prince Harding also told APC politicians that they would permanently remain in opposition as his party strengthened the pillars for a one-party project referencing a strong party in Mexico which, he said, had ruled for over 70 years.
APC members, supporters and sympathisers expected a tough feedback from the APC camp, but Minkailu Mansaray and others chose to stay mute as the insults and public provocation continues.
They rely only on the publication of press releases calling on SLPP leadership to control their guys to stop uttering such statements, but the humiliating utterances never stopped.
The APC party, under Minkailu, became muter and sadder when Sierra Leone’s First Lady threatened to publish videos of APC politicians who have been collecting money from government for a sellout.
Weight was added to these allegations when Chief Minister, David Moinina Sengeh said “one cannot his cake and have it again,” implying that once power has been exchanged for money, one cannot get it again. If the Chief Minister is correctly understood, it could suffice to say that APC’s struggle to regain political power will be a never-ending project.
Amid the ridiculous remarks against a party he led, Minkailu Mansaray accepted it that way as long as Samura Kamara was not made President so that his prophecy could stand.
It was the same way former President Ernest Koroma accepted insults from SLPP on to the point of being humbled before a magistrate court in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, just to ensure that Samura’s presidential victory remain a farce.
Mansaray further continued the blockade against Samura’s presidential victory after the Tripartite Committee completed its work.
For a start, 80 recommendations were proffered for implementation ahead of 2028 polls apart from the remaining five which the international community is set to implement.
As the party’s chairman and a man who held the forte, Minkailu Mansaray was expected to conduct public education schemes for the electorate to show APC’s stance towards the Tripartite recommendations.
He fell short of such work which would have earned him the greatest honour of his life. Credible sources within the APC intimated this press that Minkailu and his cohorts would inform the police at any time the party was about to meet to ensure his safety.
He feared what he had created through treachery and traitorship as he suspected APC youth of attacking him, one day. Dabbling in such diabolic actions, Minkailu Mansaray would take a partial blame for most of the killings which occurred in APC headquarters in Freetown.
The killing of a matron, Nurse Mahawa and an ardent APC supporter popularly known as ‘White Boy’ at the party office could not be divorced from information passed on to the police by the erstwhile APC chairman.
The secret calls remain hidden but the cat was let out of the bag owing to a rancour between the police high command and the APC leadership.
The former APC chairman was also said to have involved in misleading development partners at any time he held a meeting with them in respect of the tripartite recommendations.
Instead of telling the international community the real picture about the party’s struggle in the hands of SLPP, he chose to make deceptive statements hoping that delaying the process, everything would be swept under the carpet. Despite the political gimmicks, tricks and shenanigans, Minkailu Mansaray is no more, he now belongs to the ages, but his prophecy remains fresh in the minds of the people backed up with unyielding hope of Samura’s presidency.