After waves of litigations, the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC) is in court again for the eligibility of Dr Samura Kamara to contest the June 24 election, a senior party official informs this press.
It is alleged that the APC presidential candidate is a British citizen. The challenge against Samura is raised by senior APC members: former Sports Minister, Paul Kamara and Coleson Turay. The fresh case hinges on the citizenship of Dr Samura Kamara, the party’s presidential candidate who was nominated just two weeks ago.
The burden to prove that Samura carries British citizenship rests on those who allege. They have to come up with evidence to show that Kamara is not a Sierra Lronean. Reports say Kamara defense team led by Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara has asked the court to strike out the application citing irregularities. At the moment, Samura’s presidential ambition hangs on the the balance.
He may be disqualified from running as President if he is found wanting. The Constitution of Sierra Leone, 1991 prohibits anyone with foreign citizenship from running the presidency. The latest move by the APC stalwarts stuns and shocks almost every Sierra Leonean as it is just over 30 days more to go to the polls. Other APC members who spoke to this press confirmed that the litigants’ was to derail progress already made for the party to go into June-24 election.
However, senior party officials are not worried as they hope that the case would be thrown out of court. They argue that Samura Kamara has never denounced his Sierra Leonean citizenship for any other citizenship. He is a Sierra Leonean and nothing else. They see the new case as one that is politically motivated.
Accusing fingers have been pointed at SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party) surrogates in the APC to mastermind an anti-Samura campaign. Others say the flames of Kamara’s allegations are being fanned by SLPP spin doctors to take people’s minds away from the controversial voter card issue. APC recently issued an ultimatum to the election body, ECSL (Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone) that they either change the cards or they take to the streets.
APC also demanded that the raw data be provided by ECSL. ECSL, all along, has been under pressure by the public and the international community to address the controversial issue ahead of election. It is clear that ECSL officials have been scratching their heads to fix the problem. The only way for APC to be appeased and encouraged to part in the elections is either the raw data is provided or the elections postponed.
The fresh suit at the Supreme Court is not the only case Dr Samura Kamara is battling with at the moment. He is currently standing trial at the high for two counts of corruption-related crimes. He is accused of deceiving a principal about the construction of Sierra Leone’s Chancery in the United States. About two weeks ago, Sierra Leoneans were taken aback when the presiding Judge, Justice Adrian Fisher postponed the case to 14th July, this year, a date after the elections. Nerves were calmed by the court’s decision as APC hopes to go into the election without any fear or hurdle.
But, the current litigation has dashed APC’s hopes in the election. Apart from the two matters pending in court, Kamara’s name also found its way in the list of persons of interest at the defunct commissions of inquiry set up by President Julius Maada Bio in 2019. He was accused of failing to declare 30 vehicles which were donated to government for the fight against Ebola virus which struck the country in May, 2014. His name is also in the government’s White Paper as one of those who should forfeit their estate to the state if he fails to pay within 30 days.
Watching the current situation closely, it appears as if Kamara was tied to the stake, and surrounded by many enemies. For many APC members, his accession to the post of flag-bearer and leader of the party is bizzare. It all started in 2017 when Samura was handpicked by former President Ernest Bai Koroma during a convention in Makeni city, Northern Sierra Leone. Koroma’s unilateral decision to have Samura Kamara succeed him sparked waves of intra-party conflicts that would most often land them in court.
Many APC members saw the ex-President’s action as a collusion between him and Samura Kamara as the latter expressed no intention of running for the presidency. Although APC’s old constitution permitted it, the unilateral decision to have Kamara as flag-bearer for 2018 elections was one of the principal causes of APC’s defeat in the elections. Key APC politicians backed out of the race abandoning Kamara alone.
Koroma’s secret support was made public in the February, 2023 National Delegates Conference in Makeni where he reportedly openly declared for Samura Kamara during the convention, an act that made many delegates to follow him. Kamara got over 1, 300 votes while the second Dr Richard Conteh got only 88, and the remaining votes left to be grabbed by over 10 candidates.
The causes of Samura’s defeat in the 2018 elections was first brought to the fore by former Minister of Social Welfara Dr Sylvia Blyden. A report laid hands on by this press made it clear that Samura’s unilateral selection by former President Koroma led to APC’s defeat in 2018. Dr Blyden also argued that the position held by Kamara in the NPRC (National Provisional Ruling Council) government made him easily concede defeat without a robust challenge in the court.
He served once served NPRC as Financial Secretary on to the time President Julius Maada Bio took over as Head of State and NPRC Chairman in January, 1996. For these reasons, most APC stalwarts would not like Kamara be re-elected the party’s flag-bearer for 2023 elections. The conflicts and disagreements within the APC for the past years clearly indicate that Samura was no longer needed as APC’s candidate.
They wanted another man be chosen. The continuation of Samura as a de facto flag-bearer after he lost the election in March, 2018, a situation that provoked the formation of cabals of party stalwarts that ferociously fought to right what they called the errors of the past. Senior APC politicians were accused of funding a movement known as the National Reformation Movement (NRM) to enforce constitutional reforms through the courts.
The sign of a long and protracted war within the APC started in January, 2019 when a conference for the adoption of the party’s reviewed 1995 constitution was aborted through a court injunction. The NRM guys had shot the party at close range. They dragged the party to court praying for an injunction to stop APC from adopting a constitution that they referred to as undemocratic with Hindolo Moiwo Givao as their lawyer.
The then constitution contained several provisions especially the selection provision that NRM was not comfortable with. The matter lingered in court for years before withdrawn for an out-of-court settlement. APC met most of NRM’s demands by doing away with the ‘selection clause,’ separating posts of Chairman and leader and creating a special body for handling intra-party elections among others.
Another hope was raised but not destined to last long as Alfred Peter Conteh who headed the NRM chapter in the United States launched another legal attack. His case was a bit different from NRM local chapter. For Conteh, he wanted to see that the old executive dissolved saying they had outlived their mandate and most of them were selected. The court nodded in affirmation by setting aside the old executive led by former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
The Koroma-led executive was replaced by an interim body known as the ITGC (Interim Transitional Governance Council) which briefly ran the party’s before a substantive executive was elected. It took APC months, if not a year, to have a permanent administration that took the party to the February convention. The convention was almost aborted by a high court judge, Justice Hannah Bonnie who slammed an injunction ahead of the conference.
The injunction led to an immediate withdrawal of a police clearance for the convention to go ahead. It also made police officers barricade the APC regional office in Makeni, the venue for the convention. What bloodbath would have looked like had APC forcefully forged ahead with the convention if the injunction stood. Owing to pressure, Bonnie’s injunction was withdrawn and the police left the venue.
Francis Kai Gbondo, a senior APC member dragged APC to court on the grounds that those who have to answer at the commissions of inquiry should not contest for any of the posts during the Makeni convention. Samura Kamara was still with threatened with litigation even after the convention. The latest case at the country’s highest court is one of the threats against APC. The Supreme Court verdict on Samura’s case is widely seen as a make or break. His presidential ambition will be brought to a sudden halt if the court finds him guilty of British citizenship.