Dr Samura Kamara is a fine, peaceful politician and once an indefatigable Sierra Leonean civil servant.

But it seems that those who don’t hesitate to put their fingers to the till hate those who don’t steal at all from public office.

The most popular politician, Samura Kamara, is loved by many Sierra Leoneans because of his acclaimed honesty and calmness shown throughout his public life in civil service.

Late President Ahmad Tejan Kabba had worked with Dr Samura Kamara. The incumbent Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio had himself worked with Samura Kamara in the mid-1990s under the NPRC’s (National Provision Ruling Council) junta regime.

Former president Ernest Bai Koroma continued with Dr. Samura Kamara after Kabba’s era as Finance Minister, Bank Governor and later Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

However, the calm, veteran economist was put to a hot test as he was appointed presidential aspirant of APC during 2018 Sierra Leone’s general elections.

The politician came in the limelight as he was described by his supporters as a HONEST politician whose hands have never been in the loot.

The needy people see him as a humble and generous figure as he willingly shares his little resources with the poor.

He doesn’t believe in politics without principles; and wealth without sacrifice like his peers within and outside APC (All People’s Congress).

But his long earned reputation tends to suffer crushing defeat as the government had accused him of engaging in corrupt practices in May 2021.

The allegation by the country’s anti-graft agency was in connection to an unfinished construction of Sierra Leone’s chancery building in New York in the United States. The case was an albatross on Samura’s neck with an overdue long verdict yet to be decided by the country’s court.

As elections draw closer, the $4 million chancery case against the aspirant has been lately relaxed by the country’s high court until after June 24 elections when a verdict is expected or the usual norm, Samura’s court appearances.

The popular politician is hated by some rogue politicians in his party. Unlike former president Koroma who was only hated by few APC politicians then, Samura is the most hated leader to have been appointed in 2018 and elected in February 2023 to lead APC. Despite the people love for him grows like crops in rainy season, he is being undermined by some failed politicians especially within APC party.

As the chancery case is relaxed for a while, a fresh case has surfaced with ex-president Koroma then sports minister, Paul Kamara, raising election petition case against Samura Kamara over his victory earlier this year in Makeni where he was soundly elected presidential aspirant for All People’s Congress party.

Owing to APC’s rot and deep mess within, some critics have said Dr Samura Kamara might not get a committed team to work with him if he became the next president of Sierra Leone.

Signs are clear that those who are after him now would always be after him to eventually see his downfall.

APC’s current chairman, Alhaji Minkaliu Mansaray, Chief Sam Sumana ( ex-vice president), Alimamy Petito Kamara and some key figures in the APC are recoiling themselves from Samura.

If elected president, the trusted politician would dare not appoint some politicians from his side since they have identified themselves as his enemies forever!

As he manages to conduct his campaigns across the nation with just few key followers, it shows that the enmity for Samura still ripens or deepens within.

And such a factor would affect APC’s comeback chances that if only little effort is applied together as a team 2023 elections would be a landslide victory for APC party.

This is because the ruling government has failed to keep the inflation from rising which is putting prices of foodstuffs skyrocketing. This has made many Sierra Leoneans to become disillusioned. And now want a change of government.

The incumbent president Mr Bio is unable to deliver in most of his manifesto promises of 2018 elections campaign.

He couldn’t boost agriculture and tourism. President Bio also fails to ensure that ministers grown farms on their own in their villages as he promised Sierra Leoneans in 2017 campaigns.

Owing to SLPP’s (Sierra Leone People’s Party), naked failings on the economy, Dr Samura Kamara is seen as the only hope of Sierra Leoneans to turn things around.

Since his opposite number, the incumbent president Julius Maada Bio, has unable to lift Sierra Leoneans from abject poverty and to resolve the continued hardship in the face of hyperinflation, Samura is ticked by many Sierra Leoneans as their problem solver.

Being a seasoned economist and development expert, APC’s contender is believed to be more familiar with the ground, Sierra Leone’s economic situation.

And he is loved by majority of Sierra Leoneans now than any other politician in the race to June 24 election.

As finance minister and bank governor in the past, he has delivered the country from austerity as civil servants received salaries on time.

The police used to get full supply of their bag of rice each with an on time salary payment. The nurses and army officers used to be paid early when Samura was finance minister and bank governor with that administration led by ex-president Ernest Bai Koroma.

But that all seemed to have changed quickly under a new crop of ministers at finance first headed by, Jacob Jusu Saffa, Mr Dennis Vandy and now Sheku Fantamadi Bangura under president Bio’s administration of SLPP’s government between 2018 and 2023.

The competence and financial probity of former bank governor and finance minister, Dr Samura Kamara, are unmatched characteristics that enabled the envious politician to be ever loved by ordinary Sierra Leoneans.

It is something that he is believed to be more envied by his rogue peers within his APC party.

But his clean track record having worked in those enviable ministries has earned the politician an unblemished recognition among the people.

Seeing him as the most threat to SLPP than other politicians within APC, Samura has been constantly pushed to the wall by the government over corruption allegations.

But majority of Sierra Leoneans consider the allegations as a mere ploy to clip out Samura’s growing feathers.

Despite his haters’ moves and government tactics, the people of Sierra Leone still have an unshakable conviction in Dr Samura Kamara as a man who has never put his fingers to the till—he has never stolen a dime in public office.

But if he is elected the next president of the Republic of Sierra Leone, he is sure to see mountainous drawbacks in his administration than any other leader in the history of the Lion Mountain country (Sierra Lyoa); Republic of Sierra Leone.