By Africa 24 analysts
On a tete-a-tete at his business place at Regent Road in the central of Freetown, a clothes seller, Ibrahim Bangs, says he is disappointed in Dr. Samura Kamara over his decision in a recent mediation between APC party and the governing, SLPP.
Samura Kamara is All People’s Party 2018 and 2023 presidential aspirant in Sierra Leone’s general elections.
The red party’s leader, Samura, contested tightly against Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio in two elections and has been defeated two times.
It means, for many people in Sierra Leone, that Samura is not destined by God to be president of Sierra Leone. So, it is better he takes the back sit in the race for presidency.
Bangs, who is a die-hard supporter of APC talked to our journalist on Saturday suddenly after a Peace Mediation process ended at Bintumani Conference Hall in Aberdeen village, west of Freetown, on the 18th October, 2023.
The mediation is about APC’s elected members’ refusal to participate in all government activities after June 27 presidential elections results announcement that gave Bio and his SLPP the lead.
Sierra Leone’s electoral boss, Mohamed Konneh, declared Mr. Bio the presidential winner on June 27, 2013 – three days after Voting Day.
But, APC said the elections were rigged by the government, hence it called ‘ a boycott action’ of governance activities until ‘refresh elections’ are run within six months period after the official declaration of the controversial elections results.
The supporter said he never had expected the outcome of the mediation to have not gone on their favour.
“We were expecting a re-run of elections of the June 24 polls; but that was not what our leader had worked out to be seen after the mediation; we would like to see what he [Samura] will do next since he had said he is not thinking the same way we are thinking.”
The mediation process follows an invitation of African Union, ECOWAS, the Commonwealth by Sierra Leone’s government peace commission and it took place starting from October 16, 17 and 18 of 2023 at the Bintumani hotel in Freetown.
The fact that Sierra Leone government solely invited the ‘external mediators’ and it is also the same government that will determine the implementation of the ‘agreements’ on the recent peace dialogue, some Sierra Leoneans have since referred to the mediation as “as a stage-manage dialogue”.
And, therefore, they said they don’t trust SLPP government at all to implement those agreeable “resolutions” made between the two parties.
For few others [ Sierra Leoneans], they said government might even use this as a “pre-testing” strategy against the main opposition and the international community which will inform their [ SLPP] overstaying in power without President Julius Maada Bio ever thinking of handing over power to APC, an alleged statement that Bio had been heard saying in several of his campaigns.