SAMURA KAMARA AND ENTOURAGE GIVEN PASSIONATE, FERVENT HERO’S WELCOME BY APC SUPPORTERS IN NEW YORK
By Kabs Kanu
Dr. Samura Kamara, the Presidential candidate of Sierra Leone’s biggest and most massively supported opposition party, the All People’s Congress ( APC ) , received a most fervent and passionate welcome befitting the celebrated hero he is, when he and his delegation landed at the JFK International Airport in New York yesterday afternoon.
A sizable crowd of of U. S APC officials , stalwarts and grassroots stormed the airport to receive their flagbearer , who has served Sierra Leone with distinction as Governor of the Bank, MInister of Finance and Foreign Minister .
The former Minister was accompanied by a high -powered delegation which included the Deputy Chairman of the APC, Dr. Osman Yansaneh and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Frank Kargbo.
It was such an emotional scene at the airport as some of the prime- movers of the APC in America demonstrated the amazing love and support that Dr. Samura Kamara continues to enjoy from the vanguard and grassroots of the APC.
Dr. Kamara and entourage, who are no strangers to enthusiastic crowds, were overwhelmed by the reception they received at the airport .
The newly- elected Chairman of APC- USA , Lawyer Sufian Kalokoh , his deputy Mr. Kebbie Turay; the Diaspora Sixth Region Chairman, Mr. Alfred Kebbie Sesay and top officials from Philadelphia , headed the team that welcomed Dr. Samura Kamara at the airport yesterday. APC -New Jersey also sent a hefty delegation led by the newly- elected President, Mr. Ibrahim Coulson Mansaray . Also in the delegation from New Jersey were the newly- elected Secretary General of APC- USA , Mr. Alimamy Turay and the former Information Attaché to Ethiopia , Mr. Abdul Karim Koroma, who is now the Deputy PRO of the chapter .
As the video of his arrival was being streamed on social media by ardent supporters of the APC , one neutral Sierra Leonean political observer in Philadelphia, a pensioner , Pa . Ibrahim Conteh , who is here to see his daughter, could not conceal his marvel at the intensity and the passion of the welcoming ceremony and quipped “ People love this Dr. Samura Kamara man . Wherever he goes, he does not only pull crowds but you see from the body language of the people that they are very excited about him “.
Even supporters of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party ( SLPP ) were amazed that Dr. Samura Kamara would receive such a rousing welcome in America, given the depth of the propaganda they continue to spew about him in public and the social media and the many defamatory spins they gave the trip. When COCORIOKO first reported that a massive welcome awaited Dr. Kamara in New York, they derided it and said it was not possible. But what they saw unfolding in New York yesterday left them stunned and some of them began blaming President Bio for allowing it, as if their leader’s dictatorial power extended to America.
The New York trip is actually connected with the court case presently going on in Sierra Leone with regards to the matter of the alleged embezzlement of money sent by the Government of Sierra Leone to renovate the chancery building of the Permanent Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations in New York , though neutral Sierra Leoneans believe that Dr. Samura Kamara had no hand in it and that his inclusion is a politically – motivated design by the panicky SLPP government to take the shine off the hugely popular and beloved Dr. Kamara.
According to irrefutable bombshell revelations by the crusading AFRICANIST PRESS , which has been exposing financial scandals in the SLPP that the President Maada Bio government has not been able to successfully contradict and reprove , the money transactions for the rebuilding of the Chancery were made after the APC left power in 2018 .
A clear indication that it is a politically- motivated case is seen in the fact that though the main culprit implicated in the scandal was the former SLPP Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Allie Kabbah , who was alleged to have even invested over a million U. S dollars in a private company, he was not charged to court by the Bio government, which has s reputation for witch hunts against opposition members .
When the Africanist Press released the bombshell, Ambassador Allie Kabba was fired as Permanent Representative to the UN and sent to Egypt briefly as ambassador but he has not been charged, leaving many unanswered questions and confirming public belief that the inclusion of former APC functionaries like Dr. Samura Kamara and Ambasaador Adikalie Sumah in the case, was a blatant witch hunt.
As always, Dr. Samura Kamara has vehemently denied any involvement in the case and he is confident that if justice is really served , he will be exonerated . Even the international stakeholders and the international community , who provide the economic and logistical support that sustains Sierra Leone, believe that Dr. Samura’s involvement by the SLPP is politically motivated .
While in the U.S, Dr. Samura Kamara will receive the popular support he enjoys in Sierra Leone and he will be conducting two big town meetings in New York and Washington DC.
Photo credit : Abdul Karim Koroma and the Samura Kamara Media team.
