Commentary

Though he served the country as a technocrat and politician with great passion and dedication for over four decades, the main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, is not the paragon of virtue most well-meaning Sierra Leoneans expected. His unfortunate statements in the ongoing campaign for the Saturday 24th June, 2023 multitier elections have left much to be desired.

That the APC presidential candidate would call for the resignation of the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Regional Commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL) in seventy-two hours does not only sound very ridiculous, it also exposes the ignorance of Samura Kamara in how senior officials of the ECSL are nominated by the President and approved by Parliament within the ambit of the law. Though the APC could be suspicious of how the

ECSL would be conducting this month’s multitier elections, the fact remains that it was very inappropriate for the APC presidential candidate to have given a 72-hour ultimatum to the ECSL Chief Electoral Commissioner and the Commissioner to resign, knowing fully well that he was just begging for the moon – something very impossible.

Samura Kamara’s 72 hours for the ECSL big guns to resign elapsed at the weekend and his next step ahead the Saturday 24th June multitier elections is not yet known. It is possible that the APC will either contest the elections under protest or will resolve to withdraw from the elections like the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) did in 1973, after they succumbed to APC’s unprecedented violence in the political history of Sierra Leone.

Be that as it may, Samura Kamara as a seasoned technocrat with over forty years of experience and knowledge in public service and politics should be an upholder of democratic values instead of behaving like a political tout who doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. The APC presidential candidate should behave like a responsible Sierra Leonean, especially when the entire world is now focusing on next Saturday’s elections that would prove to the world that

Sierra Leone has come a long way in her democratization process as compared to other African countries. That is why the APC should protest through the right government channels instead of taking the laws into their hands like they did last Monday and Tuesday, when their supporters and sympathizers stayed at home thereby disrupting businesses in their strongholds in Freetown and the North.

While we expect Samura Kamara to see reason to comply with the norms of society, the APC ventriloquist - Adebayor – has again called on his gullible pupils (APC members and supporters) to protest on Monday against the non-resignation of the ECSL Chief Electoral Commissioner and his Commissioners. Though they know that this will not augur well for the peace and cohesion of the country, the APC are determined to disrupt the elections which the governing Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) has vowed to stoutly resist.

Samura Kamara should know that the APC Leadership would be held responsible for any attempts to disrupt the Saturday 24th June multitier elections and the law will take its course irrespective of whose ox is gored. Samira Kamara should therefore be careful not to be misled by political hoodlums he is supposed to be guarding and cautioning against undemocratic behaviours.