By Africa 24 analysts

Who is To Blame is a fine novel written by a Sierra Leonean, Alhaji Abu Sesay.

The book is dominantly centered on marriage, tradition and social class system in Sierra Leone.

It explores the culture of a native tribe and the Creoles in Sierra Leone in the 1980s and 90s.

However, we take a shift breath from the book’s explanation and focus on the country’s politics. Who Is to Blame book hasn’t a similar story to Sierra Leone’s APC party political overlords or statesmen’s stories – Dr. Samura Kamara and his party opponents for 2018 and 2023 presidential race.

Neither does the book’s story portrays ex-president Ernest’s actions while in the APC as Chairman of the party or as was President or now as a former President of Sierra Leone.

But, we have cautiously used the title of the Sierra Leonean author’s book to amplify the same question often and repeatedly asked now by APC’s party followers-old people, youth male and female, young men and women.

The article is about the question APC’s supporters used to ask and are asking now after 2018 general elections when Dr. Samura Kamara, a seasoned economist and long-serving civil servant, was defeated by a fearless and long-time military soldier, retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio.

Most All People’s Congress (APC) party’s supporters were of the view that it was former president of Sierra Leone, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, that had sold APC to SLPP or partially had led APC to its deep, and unhealed divisions among at least 18 of the party’s presidential aspirants after the party’s delegates conference ahead of 2018 elections that saw Dr. Samura Kamara being surprisingly appointed by Ernest Koroma in Makeni City, north of Sierra Leone.

That made most opponents of Samura Kamara to take“aloof position” in several of the party’s campaigns across the country.

Some APC’s stalwarts, the old men and women, adult men and women, came to believe that the subsequent defeats of Samura Kamara in 2018 general elections and 2023 Sierra Leone’s general elections were caused by former President Ernest Bai Koroma who gave his backing for Samura Kamara twice.

In other words, Koroma supported Samura to run for both elections as APC’s presidential aspirant, despised by other deserving candidates within the party.

These supporters then had thought Samura was and is still a cold, weak, dull, unprepared and in outspoken, rookie politician due to his many years in the civil service world. Some say Samura by nature, in fact, is a cool and a very docile figure who couldn’t portray charismatic and thoughtful leadership qualities but could only exhibit leadership skills of those men of effeminate attributes.

Though, unlike 2018 which was based on a selection of a candidate, voting for a candidate or election was allowed in February between 17 and 22, 2023 at a party’s delegation in Makeni again, north of Sierra Leone.

And Samura Kamara contested against his then 2018 presidential opponent and he Samura was defeated again in a highly controversial elections.

2023 general elections were controversial because the main opposition, Samura’s party, accused the ruling government, SLPP of rigging the polls in favour of them by using the electoral commission, headed up by Mohamed Konneh.

Sierra Leone People’s Party is the governing party in the country but its winning of 2023 presidential election is decried by a coalition of CSOs, a team of opposition parties and international elections observers’ mission.

Due to concerns of electoral rigging ranging from ballot tampering, late polls opening, and opposition party obervers being chased out from polling stations during voting day, the APC embarked on a boycott of all governance activities calling out their MPs to refuse to go to parliament.

The boycott by APC’s MPs started since June 30, 2023 and it is promised to last for six months unless a fresh election is conducted within that period.

But, Samura Kamara, according to many die-hard supporters of APC, the weak and very docile politician, has allowed himself to be remote-controlled by President Julius Maada Bio and his party men of the SLPP.

Dr. Samura Kamara has lately in government organized mediation at the Bintumani Hotel, Aberdeen, west of Freetown, signed a peace deal agreement with SLPP, in the midst of supporters’ frustrations and disappointments.

In that dialogue which was mediated between APC and SLPP by Sierra Leone’s Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion, Africa Union, ECOWAS, and the Commonwealth, Samura took the lead by agreeing to all the 12 resolutions put forward to the government.

And many Sierra Leoneans felt very disappointed in Samura as they said he had failed to press hard on their concerns expected to have been raised by him and his team.

And among those expected concerns is electoral commission to release elections disaggregated results forms by districts, a re-election to be conducted within a six month period in Sierra Leone.

APC’s supporters had wanted a re-run of election of the June 24 general election because they believe that that election was largely rigged by the government.

The past election in June was marred with deep distrust by local CSOs and international election’s observers’ missions who have still maintained that President Bio did not win June 24 presidential election, a latest European Union report states.

And, therefore, UK, USA, EU, have refused to accept Mr. Bio as a truly elected President of Sierra Leone by the people.