By Kabs Kanu
Let us all start by conceeding that Dr. Samura Kamara faced a very formidable task from the onset and the situation has not changed.
We all expected the outcome we wished for from the Tripattite Committee . We expected an agreement that will deliver electoral justice by providing either a rerun or as some wistfully dreamt, a handing over of power to the winner of the 2023 elections, Dr. Samura Kamara. But it is now evident that electoral justice was not the original intent of the Tripartite Committee. Comrades are right to be aggrieved but what seems unreasonable is some people wanting to put all the blames on the back of Dr. Samura Kamara.
I read the scathing article by Professor Mohamed Turay against Dr. Samura Kamara. Many other people read it and listened to defamatory audios against the Doctor and they have expressed their disdain publicly in forums for these attacks on the leader of the APC as if he singularly carried the magic wand that would have unlocked the expected outcomes of the Tripartite Committee .
People are disappointed with Professor Turay for the singular reason that, over and above every other personality, he was the closest man around Dr. Samura Kamara, a man he so implicitly trusted that he confided all his dreams, efforts and fears with him. Professor Turay, more than anybody else, knew the daunting challenges, hostilities and treachery Dr. Samura was facing even from cabals within his party. When somebody places such trust in you and confides his problems with you , he expects you to stand with him in victory or in defeat, in peril or disappointment etc. Professor Turay jumped ship too early and the worse part of it is that he is now the very one crying down Dr. Samura Kamara publicly and demeaning him with his pen.
Because there are nerve – shredding competing interests and even international geopolitical stranglehold over the Tripartite, one man cannot carry the blame, if the outcome does not seem to go the way we wanted. Let us face it. The Tripartite Committee is above everyone of us, including Dr. Samura Kamara.
This committee, unlike anything yet, is heavily multi- faceted and structured to support the SLPP Government. It involves a whole ruling dictatorship that will not yield power without a fight. It involves the superpowers including U.S and Britain. It involve the key international organizations like the UN, EU, AU, ECOWAS, all with varied interests. It also involves Samura’s own wobbling political party and we are learning that there are betrayals and treachery within. Samura cannot bring all his pain to the public because it will destabilize the party and his duty is to hold us together. Uneasy lies the head that bears the crown.
Did anybody expect one man to carry all the tempo, momentum and weight of the committee and single- handedly direct it where his party wants against all these competing interests ? Do people know there are even international dynamics and geopolitical interests playing inside the Tripartite system ? The international stakeholders still want to work with this SLPP Government. All they desire are reforms and an end to President Bio’ gutter politics and oppression of the people.
With the ambivalence and unpredictability of the international community , the muted lack of total support even from within Dr. Samura Kamara’s party and the draconian and nebulous designs of the dictatorial junta government that is a party to the three – way committee, the Tripartite was set up not to remove President Bio or have a fresh rerun of elections but to strengthen our electoral institutions, laws and electoral processes. The U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone, His Excellency Mr. Bryan Hunt, made this point very clear from the onset and government information officials and even the APC ‘s own spokesman, Mr. Sidi Yaya Tunis, have also been trumpeting it. If people did not listen well or allowed themselves to be misled by bloggers and journalists, the blame rests with them. With America , of all stakeholders, not bent on removing Maada Bio, though he is not the legitimate winner of the elections, Samura Kamara does not wield all the powers to dictate the outcome to the expectations of the APC.
Some will say he erred in not telling everybody from the onset but his party officials did. Many times, the lead negotiator of the party, Dr. Kaifala Marrah warned partisans and comrades not to preempt the outcome of the Trpartite Committe. It was that statement more than anything else that fueled hopes within the nation and the APC that surprises might yet come. So, why cast all the blames on one man ?
Yes, some people can say Dr. Samura Kamara should not have signed the agreement for the committee from the onset. But again, let us be honest. From all indications, though it has not delivered the expected outcomes for the APC, there is yet much good to come from the Tripartite Committee. If all the recommendations lead to a wholesale and radical change to our electoral systems and processes to forestall any more elections rigging in Sierra Leone, the nation would have benefited immensely. Half a bread is better than none. If all the recommendations are faithfully legislated and implemented, we can be assured that there will be no more curse at State House like Maada Bio.
Yes, everybody wants Bio out of power now , before 2028 , and if the Tripartite does not deliver that, it is understandable for people to be disappointed but what are the people of Sierra Leone themselves doing about that ? We do not know yet what the people of Sierra Leone would do next after the recommendations, given the escalating frustrations and anger Bio is generating in the country. So, everything is not about Samura Kamara. Very trying times await the nation , and it is obvious that this is not the time to start scapegoating one man , especially by people in whom he had put tremendous trust. Let us wait and see.
With the Tripartite Committee still meeting and issues of the 2023 elections noy yet concluded, it is premature for Professor Turay to state that “If Dr Mathew Wilson Samura Kamara genuinely loves the APC party and respect the supporters of the party, he must quickly urge his supporters including I that he is no longer leader of the APC party and we must all stand firmly in support of the next leader of the party….” Dr. Samura Kamara cannot, in all honesty, make that pronouncement now because there are ravenous wolves within the APC waiting to pounce for their own megalomanic and power- hungry designs. With many fake comrades within the APC, running with the hares and hunting with the hounds, we have to tread very carefully. Professor Turay’s suggestion will throw the APC into a fatal tail spin and things will fall apart within the party and the very Samura Kamara will be blamed again for any unpleasant eventualities. For now, let us stick with Samura Kamara and wait for the end of the Tripartite.
Yes, our hearts are broken but we must learn to remain solidly behind our leaders until circumstances reach the ultimate conclusion where we naturally deserve a change. Rash and wildcat reactions have cost the APC direly before and will bring more harm than good to the APC right now.
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