In his bid to be the party’s standard bearer for the 2023 national
elections, over the past weekend, the 2018 presidential flagbearer of the main
opposition All People’s Congress, Dr Samura Kamara visited the two northern
province headquarter districts of Port Loko and Kambia. Reports are that in
both places, he received rousing welcome from throng of APC members and
supporters.
An appreciative Dr. Samura Kamara posted on his Facebook page the
following message:
“My profound thanks to our party MPs in Port Loko and Kambia for unanimously
endorsing my bid to lead our great APC in 2023… Grateful to my friend and
brother, Comrade Frank Kargbo for organizing that great event…
Nothing could be more important for our beloved nation than for
the APC to come together as one united and strong family to defeat this poor
performing SLPP government in 2023, to lead our nation and to restore it to
enviable position economic and growth path it enjoyed before 2018.”
The would-be 2023 APC flagbearer aspirant, Dr. Samura Mathew
Wilson Kamara, was the APC Party’s nominee for President of Sierra Leone in the
2018 election. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
from 2012 to 2017, Minister of Finance and Economic Development from 2009 to
2012, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2009, Financial
Secretary in the Ministry of Finance during President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah’s
administration.
Early life
Dr. Samura Kamara was born in 1951 in Kamalo, Karene District,
North-Western Province of Sierra Leone, then a colony of United Kingdom. His
father Pa Gibril Kamara was an ethnic Temne from Maworrko village near Rothuk
and Magbanktha villages, Gberray Junction, Maforki chiefdom, Port Loko District.
Dr. Samura Kamara’s mother, Ya Bomporro Kamara (née Kanu) is an indigene of
Kamalo, Sanda Loko Chiefdom, Karene District.
Education
Dr. Samura Kamara received his early education at the UCC in Bo,
Southern Sierra Leone. He is married to Mrs. Elizabeth Massah Kamara (nee
Rogers). Mrs. Kamara is an indigene of Pujehun District in the Southern
Province. Her mother hailed from Masam Kpaka and her father from Blama-Massaquoi.
Dr. Samura Kamara continued his education at the Saint Edward’s
Secondary School in Freetown, stayed at Montague Street and Guard Street,
Eastern Freetown, and was very active in football circles as a goalkeeper.
He proceeded to Fourah Bay College where he earned a Bachelor’s
degree in Economics in 1972. He holds a PhD in Development Economics (1986)
from Bangor University in Wales, United Kingdom.
Career
In a bid to enhance protection of its funds in the military ruled
war-time Sierra Leone, and enhance effective use of international resources for
the average Sierra Leonean, Dr. Samura Kamara was in 1994 appointed Programme
Manager by the World Bank for its Structural Support Programme to the country.
He also served as Financial Secretary during this time as part of
efforts to build trust in the management of the mainly international donor
flows which constituted over three quarters of the government’s non-military
financial receipts. He stayed on as Secretary of State, Finance in early 1996
to ensure that such vital services to the people of the country were not cut
off during the transition to civilian rule.
He subsequently served as Financial Secretary, and as Bank
Governor, Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Cooperation in the APC Administration of Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma. Kamara crafted
and implemented the Agenda for Change (2008–12).
His stewardship of the economy as Finance Minister saw real
average GDP growth of 5.2% per annum (excluding iron ore). Before moving to the
Foreign Ministry in 2012, Dr. Samura Kamara, with leadership provided by the
President, designed the Agenda for Prosperity.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, he
signed and implemented Joint Cooperation Agreements and Bilateral Memoranda of
Understanding with China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea and the United
States of America.
He also strengthened bilateral relations through establishment of
Embassies and Consulates in strategic geographical locations to promote Sierra
Leone’s interest, including in South Korea; United Arab Emirates; and
relocation of the Mission in Tripoli, Libya to Cairo, Egypt. He had plans for
the establishment of resident diplomatic mission in Kenya.
Kamara facilitated and coordinated international support for the
implementation of Government priority programmes in the Agenda For Prosperity,
and mobilized and coordinated international support during the Ebola scourge
and the recent mudslide and flood disaster in Freetown.
He coordinated design and Government’s endorsement of agreements
with USAID for the implementation of projects in Agriculture, Governance and
Women’s empowerment; and also with the Japanese Government for the improvement
of the Energy infrastructure.
Kamara chaired the African Caucus constituency meetings two years
in a row. As Foreign Minister, he serves as Chair of the Ministerial Meetings
of the African Union C-10 committee on the Reform of the United Nations, and was
also Chair of the AU Candidatures Committee to promote African leadership in
high profile global positions. He on several occasions chaired the Peace and
Security Council of the AU, which is the continental body’s most prominent
council that is charged with ensuring peace and security in Africa.
As financial secretary, Kamara championed the merger of the Income
Tax Department with Custom and Excise Department resulting in the creation of
the National Revenue Authority. He was also a pioneer in the establishment of
the National Public Procurement Authority.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, he
prepared and launched a comprehensive strategic document known as the Sierra
Leone Foreign Service Transformation Strategy, 2014 – 2018.
As in the Ministry of Finance, he enhanced increased staff
capacity of the Ministry and Missions, ensured salary increases in the
Ministry, created new directorates, and facilitated training of staff within
and outside the country.
He upgraded the ICT Infrastructure of the Ministry, ensured the
production of Sierra Leone’s first diplomatic magazine and Official Directory
of Sierra Leone’s Overseas Missions and Consulates, which were launched by the
President in July 2017.
He was the lead technocrat in the negotiation team that won S/L
debt cancellation in 2007. As Chair of African Caucus constituency he guided
negotiations resulting in Africa getting a 3rd chair on the World Bank
Executive Board. Kamara led Africa’s ministerial negotiating team on the reform
of the United Nations.
Kamara strengthened Sierra Leone’s multilateral relations by
facilitating the ratification and/or domestication of The 1954 Convention on
the status of Stateless Persons; The 1961 Convention on the reduction of Statelessness;
The 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; and The Constitutive Act of
the Pan African Parliament; and the world’s premier multilateral environmental
protection agreements such as, the Minamata convention on Mercury; the Nagoya
Protocol; the Basel Convention on the control of trans- boundary movement of
hazardous wastes and their disposal; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
As Finance Minister, his was concerned for the poor ensured his
design and implementation of programmes that resulted in poverty incidence
falling from 66% in 2004 to 53% in 2011.
Outside his work as a government official, he out of personal
resources brought electricity to Kamalo, supported education in Kamalo by
offering scholarships to hundreds.
Kamara was chosen on October 15 as the Flag Bearer for the then ruling
APC for the 2018 Presidential Elections. He received 42.7% in the first round
election.
Personal life
Dr. Samura Kamara is Catholic. His parents and most of his family
are Muslims, many of whom he sponsored to go on pilgrimage to Mecca. In
Freetown he grew up in the house of his uncle, Alhaji Sorsoh Kamara who was
Chairman of the Jamiul Jalil Mosque, in the Oldfield district of Freetown. He
has supported the construction of mosques in Kamalo and also installed solar
lights at the Jamiul Jalil Mosque. He is a member of a number of traditional
organizations and social clubs in Freetown. He plays tennis.