By Alfred Peter Conte, Journalist
Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, a prominent figure in Sierra Leone’s political landscape, has experienced a career marked by dramatic highs and lows. A seasoned economist and technocrat, Kamara’s political rise and subsequent decline underscore the complexities of leadership in Sierra Leone, particularly within the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party, where internal strife, personal ambition, and external factors have shaped the trajectory of his career.
Kamara’s career in public service began in the 1980s, where he made a name for himself in the financial sector, first working with the Bank of Sierra Leone and later in International Monetary organizations.
His reputation as a competent economist earned him significant recognition, but it was his entry into the political arena that thrust him into the spotlight.
Kamara’s rise to political prominence was largely due to former President Ernest Bai Koroma, who, in an unexpected move, handpicked him as the successor to lead the APC in the 2018 Presidential Elections. This decision was met with a mixture of surprise and dissatisfaction within the party, particularly among key party executives and grassroots supporters. Kamara was largely an outsider to the APC’s top echelons, and his selection raised eyebrows, especially in Makeni, the heartland of the APC, where supporters were not prepared for the appointment of a candidate with no deep-rooted connection to the party’s historic power structure.
Despite initial resistance, Dr. Samura Kamara’s leadership was eventually accepted by the grassroots, though the party’s senior figures remained skeptical. This rift within the APC, however, was not new. It echoed the internal divisions following the controversial removal of former Vice President Chief Alhaji Samuel Sam-Sumana, who was ousted by former President Ernest Bai Koroma in 2015. This rift left lasting scars within the party, and Kamara’s leadership became synonymous with this wider fragmentation, which would later contribute to the APC’s downfall in the 2018 elections.
In 2018, Kamara was officially nominated as the APC’s Presidential Candidate, but his campaign faced significant challenges from the outset. Many senior APC figures, who were still loyal to the party’s former leadership under Koroma, refused to campaign for him, believing it was Koroma’s responsibility to sell Kamara as the party’s flagbearer. The lack of unity within the APC, combined with Kamara’s relative unpopularity, made it difficult for him to present a unified front to the electorate.
In what became a crucial moment in Sierra Leone’s electoral history, the APC’s internal disarray led to the party’s defeat. President Julius Maada Bio, the candidate for the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), emerged victorious, capturing the Presidency in what many saw as a rebuke of the APC’s failure to resolve its internal conflicts.
Following the 2018 loss, the APC convened a committee to assess the reasons for its defeat. The findings of the committee confirmed what many had suspected the party was deeply fractured, with unresolved disputes that had eroded its strength both internally and externally. The committee’s report warned that unless these divisions were addressed, the APC would struggle to win the 2023 elections.
The period following the 2018 defeat saw a surge in Kamara’s popularity among the grassroots, with many of the APC’s supporters rallying behind him as the next President of Sierra Leone.
However, despite this surge of support, the party’s leadership continued to be mired in conflict. The APC failed to address the growing discontent among members, particularly those who felt excluded or side-lined by the party’s internal power struggles.
