Sierra Leone’s main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) party is certainly behind schedules for their National Delegates’ Convention and the June 24th multitier elections.

Considering the current trials the party is going through, it is suggestive with the utmost sense of urgency to do away with dangerous legalities with the tendencies of narrowing the space for membership qualifications and for flag-bearer contenders.  The party should thus open the space widely for a level playing field for all to democratically participate in the February 25 flag-bearer race.

This is key for reasons ranging from the delays being caused by the long protracted politically motivated Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) matter at the High Court of Sierra Leone, to the Commissions of Inquiry findings powered by Government’s White Paper.

While the ACC matter at the High Court involves one of the flag-bearer aspirants, Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, and five others, the Commissions of Inquiry findings ensnare ex-minister, deputies among other public/civil servants of the last administration, who were found wanting of crimes that they are currently appealing against at the Court of Appeal of Sierra Leone.

These legal battles are the incumbent’s deadliest weapons set against the APC party politicians, especially against Dr Samura Kamara, who is one of the biggest catches in the net of the SLPP-led government of President Bio, hence the need for an alternative to Samura Kamara.

These legal tussles hovering over the heads APC lead politicians, backed by the deliberate postponements of passing a simple judgement on especially the ACC New York Chancery matter, continue to raise suspicions that the weak ruling SLPP’s strategic ploy is aimed at exploiting the situations to militate against Dr Samura Kamara, a standard bearer aspirant and would-be presidential bid ahead of the February national delegates convention of the APC.

The SLPP and Bio have long demonstrated to the world that they have no better ways of fighting the indefatigable APC party and its politicians apart from government’s persistent un-procedural use of the Sierra Leone Judiciary, to constantly clamp down on the main opposition.

These are clear manifestations of how far the governing SLPP has come in bullying its APC rival, being targeted to an extent of chasing all APC interests in furtherance of winner-takes-all democratic governance approach.

On the other hand, what if the ACC couldn’t find Dr Samura Kamara guilty of any crime? What would the SLPP party do? Would the government compensate him? The APC would certainly celebrate a victory for winning a high-profile ACC matter against a sitting government, as the fears being expressed by certain devil’s advocates are geared towards discouraging the country’s most popular politician. Meanwhile, we wait to see the very outcome of the whole episode.

However with adjournment after the other by the ACC-High Court to pass a judgement on the alleged New York Chancery corruption matter, involving Dr Samura Kamara, the APC should not take things lightly by believing in the theoretical independence of the judiciary.

Rather, the party should be smartly thinking of multiple options for possible replacement of the APC party’s 2018 presidential nominee, should the ACC court find him guilty, so that there will be a quick way of filling that space with a much formidable contender. Again, though this TALKING POINT is not certain of the exact outcome of the ACC High Court matter presided over the Hon Justice Adrian Fisher, yet the APC party must be strategically peeking beyond towers of Dr Samura Kamara for the flag-bearer position before the Saturday February 25 convention.

With these directly canopying over the heads of Dr Samura Kamara and other APC politicians, much needs to be done as part of preparedness with the requisite flag-bearer candidates with the much-needed capacities among whom one will win the blessings of delegates on Saturday 25 February 2023, to challenge and defeat SLPP’s Julius Maada Bio at the polls at first ballots.

The Friday 27^th January 2023 verdict passed by the Hon Chief Justice Desmond Babatunde Edwards – which legitimized and confirmed the erroneous use of the Proportional Representation system by the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone for the conduct of the approaching June elections – is an indication that the ACC High Court under the directives of the ruling SLPP-led judiciary can never let go one of their biggest catches, Dr Samura Kamara, to walk free from the ACC New York Chancery Building legal battle.

The ACC matter and other court cases are the SLPP’s strongest weapons in the trending political warfare with their rival opposition APC. They believe that the court cases have positioned them well from all fronts against the APC.

And the SLPP are fully aware of the fact that Dr Samura Kamara being the most popular APC presidential material in the last five years – the more reasons he’s being targeted by the Bio-led government – is like a belled cat.

This also due to the facts that the current administration does not have much to talk about in terms of governance achievements in the last five years, hence their only option is to strongly capitalize on politically-motivated imposed weaknesses of the APC party and Dr Samura Kamara so that they can smoothly have their way through to the June 24 polls and get away with it.

Therefore, with Samura Kamara knowing all these legal challenges around his political personality and at the same time continue to push his way for the flag-bearer position, common sense should teach all that it is a risky and dangerous political adventure that needs to be tamed with caution now by the APC party.

There are mixed feelings with wide speculations from among APC members and supporters that the Bio-led SLPP government and its ACC court may deliver judgement otherwise in that trial, hence the huge lack of trust and confidence in the independence of the politically-toxic Sierra Leone judiciary.

So, no matter the challenges in managing aspirants’ individual political ambitions, the APC party must therefore be readily set with their Plan B moves going forward after the ACC court ruling on that matter. And APC party must also provide a clean contender to confront the existing undemocratic political situation in Sierra Leone and make the much-expected reforms for the redemptions of the masses from the dictatorship claws of Bio’s fruitless five-year misrule.

As a political party, the APC is bigger than all its members, and they cannot say to their supporters and followers the world over that they are not aware of the challenging political situation on floor and around Dr Samura Kamara, when they always see him and others in out of court rooms for close to three years now.

Truth be told the APC party should come out and tell the fine gentleman to take it easy like others with similar circumstances have done long ago, to give space to those without targets and pay some attention to his legal battle and clear it before considering of vying for the flag-bearer position of the APC party.

Giving that space will not jeopardise the chances of the APC party. And when once that is clearly put forward to Dr Samura Kamara and completely addressed, there is no way he can continue with his push against the party’s wishes. And nobody will at the end raise question against his candidacy provided he is not convicted at all.  The APC is certainly bigger than all its members and supporters. And everyone should be obliged to heed to the directives of the party. As a matter of national concern, the party should not continue to drag itself into the controversy of Dr Samura Kamara being their best presidential candidate, especially when other contenders have thrown their hats in the ring for the party’s top position ahead of Saturday February 25^thconvention, from which only one candidate will emerge as a winner.

So, for a keenly contested democratic APC flag-bearer elections wherein the likes of Abubakarr Paul Mandela Kamara, Hon Ambassador Alimamy Koroma, Dr Richard Konteh Dr Kaifala Marah, Alfred Paolo Conteh, Ambassador Omrie Michael Golley, etc have declared intentions for the standard bearer position. Also in the race are Ansumana U. Koroma, Alhaji Thokla Bangura, Muhamed Mahdi Sesay, Bassie Kamara, Susan Bona, Dr Momoh Vandi and Abu Bakarr Kalokoh Esq are all on track for the APC flag-bearer. Most of them might not be directly targeted by the SLPP, and if any one of them emerge winner of the February25^th contest, that person will surely be best placed to challenge the ruling party at the June 24^th elections.

The APC must therefore stand taller and contain those with politically motivated legal battles like Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara to do the needful now before he is petitioned when he shall have won the flag-bearer contest. By way of avoiding that, the APC must stop colloquizing now and speak loudly out of the box to those concerned.

However, some deeply concerned Sierra Leoneans, political analysts and development-oriented scholars may like to advise the incumbent government and the ACC court to not wilfully and deliberately try to deprive the nation of Sierra Leone of a development-oriented and savvy economic transformer like Dr Samura Kamara of the opportunity to lead and transform Sierra Leone for the better. They believe among the current breed or set of APC flag-bearers, Dr Samura Kamara is in a league of his own and is the most clean, honest and development-oriented politicians among the lot at the helm of affairs in the current APC. So applying any trick to deprive him of contesting for the presidency of Sierra Leone is to breed a diabolical situation in the country, economically, politically, socially and other situations unimaginable in the state of Sierra Leone.

Forum therefore calls for a wise and fair play in the socio-political and judicial sphere of Sierra Leone. A word for the wise is quite sufficient.