Conflicts and controversies used to be hallmarks of the main opposition, All People’s Congress (APC), but, these days, the party appears more unified than at any time in recent history.
The flag-bearer and Presidential candidate, Dr Samura Kamara is at work. Initially he had wanted to walk alone owing to allegation of disloyalty and sell-out but quickly saw great strength in working together with members of his executive officials to overcome the current political challenges.
He strives to put the ugly past behind him and work for the common good. He is reaching out senior and grassroot members with messages of peace and harmony for the party to stay together as one since unity is strength. Social media bloggers linked to Samura Kamara are playing it safe as they spread messages of unity for Samura Kamara and the party to succeed.
In politics, everyone matters and no one should be left behind, marginalised or discriminated against. Credible sources within APC have confirmed to this press that Kamara is currently exploring avenues for closer ties and cooperation with his officials especially the party’s chairman, Dr Minkailu Mansaray.
It is the right way to go as Kamara since still holds the forte as APC’s flag-bearer and presidential candidate although his leadership of the party seems to have ended according to the party’s constitution. It was reported that Kamara’s views were recently sounded about the leadership of the party, and his response was one that showed that he was ready to lead the party and the country but not in a “do-or-die” model.
The party’s executive is of the firm view that that there is no other candidate more popular and marketable nationally and internationally than Samura Kamara. How long will it take APC members to elect and popularise a new candidate instead of Dr Samura Kamara? Even if a new candidate is chosen, will he enjoy international backing clout and contact compared to Samura Kamara? Or will he show more patience, restraint and comportment in the face of provocation, intimidation, harassments, threats and mass killings compared to Samura Kamara?
All answers to these questions will be in the negative, and without hesitation, executive officials will go in for Kamara than any other candidate at the moment if the party is to see headway. In his effort to unite the party, the NRM (National Reformation Movement) soldiers have disarmed, disengaged and retired to their trenches awaiting Dr Samura Kamara’s presidency.
The BIG SIX too has crumbled as the APC presidential candidate calls them to peace and unity by extending an Olive branch to all. Although no date for a National Delegates conference has been slated, there is no question that one would be held to endorse Kamara as the party’s leader.
The people of Sierra Leone and the international community too are impressed with Kamara’s moves to unite the party so that he can face the incumbent candidate once more again in the polls. In the face of an internationally-backed election probe, the June 24, 2023 election is not yet over until it is over.
Ears remain fixed to the ground about what will come out of the Election Investigation Committee (EIC) also known as the tripartite committee, but hope for a rerun recommendation remains strong and alive at all times. Former SLPP (Sierra Leone People’s Party), Chairman, Somano Kapen now a devout APC member recently called on APC officials to stand with Samura Kamara, speak with one voice until the battle is won.
The ex-SLPP giant laid emphasis on Kamara’s competence to manage the economy as he looked at his enviable track record. At the moment, Sierra Leone needs Samura Kamara more than any other candidate as the economy remains in shambles, and it will further worsen as long President Julius Maada Bio is on the driving seat.
According to records released by the Central Bank, Sierra Leone, In late 2023, hits a record 50.94 inflation compounded with a weak exchange rate owing to the rapid depreciation of the Leone in the face of the US dollar and other international currencies.
Sierra Leone’s terms of trade remains weak, national budgets are still deficits worsened by a contracted revenue base and lack of support from development partners. Such economic indicators are bad for a developing country like Sierra Leone and Signs that the country would come out of the woods are faint as the international community is not ready to provide money for the government until the election results are investigated.
In the current situation, it is only Samura Kamara that would provide the best leadership for a fundamental turnaround of the country’s economy. The APC leader proved his competence in 2013 when he was finance minister in the Ernest Koroma-led government as the country’s economy was rated the fastest growing in the world.
He is also expected to do the same if placed on the forefront of state governance. Former public works minister, Kemo Sesay also appealed to APC members to rally behind the flag-bearer to bring back the stolen victory. Despite the appeals, the ball is now in Samura Kamara’s court as the onus lies on him to bring opposing forces together for the party to move on. Kemo Sesay himself contested for the party’s flag in 2017 and 2023, but lost both to Kamara. Nonetheless, he has always proven to be loyal to a man he admires so much.
However, Honourable Sesay’s hope in the party’s flag has not gone away as he would re-appear one day in the competition ring after Kamara would have ruled and left the political scene. For him, there is no candidate more ripe than Samura Kamara, a man who has won local and international accolades for his technocracy and administrative experience.
Kamara’s move has been welcomed by several APC members owing to allegations and counter-allegations that the APC presidential candidate does not see eye-to-eye with his executive officials owing to sell-outs and betrayals.
Senior APC members were recently accused of protecting President Julius Maada Bio’s interest by using the party, a move that prompted the APC leader to keep at an arm’s length with his team.
But, current moves have shown that the hatchet has been buried as APC looks to the future with unyielding hope: the hope that there would be fresh elections and Samura Kamara would emerge winner and eventually President of Sierra Leone.
A look back at recent history shows that Kamara faces a critical situation almost the same as one that confronted former President in 2007 when APC was about to bounce back to power. Senior members of the party, at that time, had teamed up together against Ernest Koroma who they wanted to see out of the race.
However, with tact, courage and patience, Koroma brought them under the same roof and fought in the party’s interest. Indeed, with manful control, the party is kept well afloat and it came to pass when Koroma was sworn in Sierra Leone’s second democratic President in November, 2007. He ruled the country with unity and tolerance until he landed the boat safely in April, 2018 but remained active in international politics.
The current presidential candidate is also displaying similar qualities for the party to smoothly weather the storm as rough seas make good captains. Kamara’s struggles in the APC started in 2017 following his selection as the party’s flag-bearer in a National Delegates Conference held in Makeni city, North of Sierra Leone.
He was single-handedly selected by former President Koroma after the 28 flag-bearer aspirants failed to agree on who should lead them. The single event triggered intermittent waves of conflicts and controversies that have been hunting APC on to this day.
The old folks wanted to see Kamara’s back out of APC alleging that he never expressed any intention to run for the presidency. During campaigns in the 2018 elections, Kamara was left alone but the good works of the former President saw him through as there was strong evidence that he won the elections.
Initially, Kamara threatened to challenge the results in the court, but dropped the intention in the interest of peace and stability. President Bio has also wanted to capitalise on Kamara’s cool moves, but it proves completely difficult for him. Kamara’a defeat in the 2018 polls also created pressure for him as many key APC members called for his immediate resignation from the party so that quality candidates would be given chance to contest.
A senior APC member and former social welfare minister, Dr Sylvia Olayinka Blyden was blunt to say the APC presidential candidate would never win election as he would always see Maada Bio as his boss.
Kamara served Bio as financial secretary in the defunct NPRC (National Provisional Ruling Council), a factor identified by erstwhile social welfare minister as one of the main causes of Samura’s defeat. Like other senior APC members, Sylvia Blyden also stepped up moves for Samura Kamara to step aside saying he would never bring victory to the party.
In one of her papers she submitted to the party after the 2018 polls, the former minister pointed out several factors that led to Samura’s defeat singling out his unilateral selection by former President Koroma as one of the main reasons and she made a strong argument for Samura to resign. With Samura, she stressed, APC would never win election.
The emergence of splinter groups also such as the National Reformation Movement (NRM) and the BIG SIX created another setback for any hope for Samura Kamara to rise again as a flag-bearer and presidential candidate for the party. NRM is a group of young APC men and women who were bitterly opposed to the selection of Dr Samura Kamara in 2017 while the BIG SIX consisted of six senior APC politicians that fought hard to derail Samura’s chances of emerging flag-bearer in a subsequent convention.
Bent on their reformist agenda, the young movement, NRM fired its first missile in 2019 when it sued the party and same time asked for an injunction to stop APC from holding a National Delegates Conference for the adoption of its reviewed 1995 Constitution.
The request was granted and the case started with Hindolo Moiwo Gevao as NRM’s attorney. Other politicians who were closely monitoring political events saw NRM’s maneuvering as one that can open the floodgate for Bio’s intimidation of the APC if not to shut it down.
The party’s young men and women made several demands including the expunge of the selection clause which prominently stood out. Members of the young movement had hoped that Samura Kamara would be thrown out of the political scene once the selection clause was done away with.
APC elders were pissed off by the lawsuit which came at a time the party was in the claws of one of Africa’s 21st century dictators, Julius Maada Bio. President Bio was highly comfortable with NRM as he saw the move as one paved the way to strangle the APC so that he could carry on with what many would refer to as a one-party project in Sierra Leone.
Ex-President Koroma who was Chairman and Leader of the party provided strong leadership as he positively responded to the demands of the NRM members in an out-of-court settlement granted by the presiding judge, Adrian Fisher.
The most contentious issue was addressed as the ‘selection clause’ was deleted and replaced with an elective principle. The dust temporally settled as most members strongly believed that Samura Kamara would never win election within and outside APC.
NRM leader here in Sierra Leone, Mohamed Sheridan and others finally settled for peace waiting to reap the fruits of their labour as men who reformed the party. As the party was reeling of the NRM effect, Alfred Peter Conteh who led NRM’s US chapter initiated fresh legal battle against the APC coming from a different angle, but with Samura Kamara as the target.
Conteh’s contention was that the mandate of the Ernest Koroma executive had expired and it was time they were replaced with a new executive. Conteh’s suit, by all indications, is the longest and most protracted than any other the party had seen since it went into opposition.
Although it was not expressed, his aim was to see Ernest out of the party believing that he was providing the back up for Samura Kamara. Like the young NRM guys, he too believed that Samura Kamara would have no space in the APC once Ernest Koroma was forced out by a court order.
With a pro-Bio judiciary, Conteh’s request was granted as the court dissolved the Koroma-led executive and replaced it with an interim body to man the party’s affairs until such a time a substantive executive was elected.
Initially, Conteh used to argue that Samura Kamara on AYV and state television that Samura Kamara had a huge number of cases hunting him and would be wrong to have him as flag-bearer to avoid a successful petition after being elected President.
The whole plan became true when Conteh was made Chairman of the new executive as he was caught in a hotel in Kono district. From that point, Conteh was branded a Bio stooge, that is, one who was projecting and protecting President Bio’s interest in the APC to pave way for a second term.
Endless conflicts in respect of control of the party’s assets and resources created bad blood between him and his executive officials with the party no longer at ease. His influence in the APC was cut short after he was sued for contempt of court for steeping outside his powers by attempting to conduct elections for the new executive.
A vast majority of APC members also turned against him and Conteh left Sierra Leone after the party got a new executive with former Mines minister, Minkailu Mansaray taking over his post.
Conteh left Sierra Leone as the environment was no longer safe for him since he had failed in his mission to get Samura out of the scene and the environment became unsafe for him.
Samura Kamara’s battle was however far from over even after the NRM factor as the BIG SIX also began a fresh battle. It was a secret political battle as it was one not meant for the court, but they were hopeful that their influence and popularity is enough to hit Samura Kamara.
But, situation became counter- productive as Samura Kamara won an overwhelming victory in a National Delegates Conference held in February last year. Kamara got over 1, 500 votes leaving the remaining few to be grabbed by Dr Richard Conteh and others.
The declaration by former President Koroma for Samura kamara’s candidacy at the convention changed the APC narrative overnight. The political battle never came to an end even when Kamara became flag-bearer of the party as there were few spies, dissidents and renegades working secretly with SLPP to damage his presidential ambition.
Out of vaulting political aspirations, Senior APC members of the party wanted Bio’s victory to remain as it is till 2028 so that Samura Kamara could completely go out of APC and the country’s politics. But, a back-up by the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, United Nations, ECOWAS, African Union and other international bodies still enliven Samura’s hope of becoming President of Sierra Leone come what may.
These bodies strongly condemned the June, 2023 elections as one that “lacked transparency” and there was no way to recognise and cooperate with such a government.
NEW (National Elections Watch), an umbrella body of local civil society organisations specialised in election observation and reporting also condemned the elections.
Its head, Marcella Samba Sesay said nobody got the 55% constitutional threshold needed to avoid a run- off, a claim that made it difficult for Bio to be recognised by the world’s community of nations.
An Election Investigation Committee is now in full swing looking into alleged irregularities of the June polls, it is hoped that a rerun recommendation would come out of the investigation to seal Kamara’s presidency.
But, he must work to unite the party as he is doing now to take over state governance as only unity could bring back APC to State House. It involves forgiveness of past wrongs and reconciliation to protect the party’s name, but the party crumbles if the Samura fails.