Sierra Leone’s main opposition party has named Samura Kamara, the runner-up in the previous presidential election, as its candidate for the June 2023 election.
In 2018, Kamara narrowly lost to then-opposition candidate President Julius Maada Bio.
Maada Bio’s All People’s Congress (APC) party elected him to run again in the next presidential election on June 24, in which he will seek a second term.
“The work has only recently begun… I urge everyone to bury the hatchet, avoid backbiting, and work together “, Kamara said at a crowded APC party headquarters in Makeni after defeating 17 other candidates with 85% of the vote.
“One of our main goals is to work together for party peace… Nobody is an enemy,” he said.
Between 2008 and 2018, Kamara served as central bank governor, finance minister, and foreign affairs minister.
Sierra Leone’s anti-corruption commission indicted him and five other officials on corruption charges in 2021, when he was foreign minister.
The six are accused of a variety of corruption offenses involving $4.2 million earmarked for the renovation of Sierra Leone’s chancery building in Manhattan.
Kamara is charged with two counts, including misappropriation of public funds totaling $2,560,000 intended for the reconstruction of the chancery building.
The trial is still going on, and he has denied any wrongdoing.