The presidential candidate of the All People’s Congress (APC) party, Dr. Samura Wilson Kamara has told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London that his urge and campaign to become the president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is to look back over forty years of his public service life having held sensitive positions in state governance.

He said, “I grew up in the country’s central bank as an economist and rose to the rank of Deputy Director for Research, went to Commonwealth Secretariat, called to Freetown as Financial Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development where I managed the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects in the country.”

Responding to question of corruption cases against him in Anti-Corruption Commission High Court, Dr. Samura Kamara referred to the court matters as politically motivated case.

He told the BBC that it will be prudent to leave the court matter with the judiciary.

The APC presidential hopeful said his records as civil servant spanning over forty years speak for itself.

He said he will not step aside as presidential candidate since he is presume innocent until proven guilty.

“The people of Sierra Leone have confidence in me knowing that I did nothing wrong, hence the reason they decided to elect me as their choice,” Dr Samura Kamara told BBC.

According to him, political parades should be allowed as it has a way of bringing people together around a leader.

Of cause, he continued, what the government wants to prevent is the unintended consequences of violence whenever there are political parades, but said, that could be managed by political parties.

Responding to question of how he will be differs from other African politicians with good plans, failure with regards fight against corruption, riddled with bad governance, Dr Kamara replied, “I have all of that at the back of my mind and will approach the presidency with a different perceptive and narratives in terms of leadership.

He noted that his leadership will take 2023 election as a landmark and a new beginning of a new Sierra Leone, as he noted, he wants to draw from his experiences in development and other aspects of nationhood.

Since independent, he continued, over the last five years in particular, the country had witnessed stalled development, which, many people asking why is that.

Why have not we grown sustainably to a point that we can avoid shocks in the economy, a new trajectory that he said stands visible in the last five years.

The APC presidential candidate described the New Direction administration as “a civilian in a military coat regime” which the leader perceived as a police state. 

Dr. Samura Kamara said that his desired to run of the 2023 election has not change since 2018.

The APC flag bearer took the interview shortly after a meeting hosted by the Secretary General Madam Scotland between him and former President Julius Maada Bio at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

Dr Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara assured that if elected as president he will be a different cartoon of fish.