PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION STATEMENT DR SAMURA MATTHEW WILSON KAMARA, MONDAY, 1st MAY 2023
Fellow Sierra Leoneans
In 2018, I came to you with an honest heart and sincere intentions for Our Country and asked for your votes to lead this country as your President.
With my many years of experience and knowledge in National Governance, I said to you then, that leading this country would not be as easy as my opponents may have wanted you to believe.
I stood before God and man and promised not to lie to you, nor to run my campaign under false promises, just to get your votes.
Many of you did not know me well at that time and therefore, you chose;
● False Promises over Reality
● Propaganda over Experience
● Tok & Do over Plan & Execute
● Anticipation over Results.
Five years on; today, the gains we have previously made as a nation have been painfully reversed; and as a result, our progress then has been significantly stalled.
Our voices, freedoms, and rights have increasingly been taken away from us; and our economy is now a wreck.
Our country is now more divided along tribal, regional, and political lines than it has ever been.
Today, my fellow Sierra Leoneans, I come to you, once again, having finalized my official nomination at the Electoral Commission Sierra Leone (ECSL), as the Presidential candidate for the All Peoples Congress (APC) party.
Let me take this moment to thank the Former Chairman and Leader, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, All the delegates, and the entire membership of the APC party for giving me yet another opportunity to contest for the Presidency of this great nation under the APC ticket in 2023.
On April 27, our great nation marked its 62nd anniversary of independence. Sixty-two long years; today, our nation remains worse off in virtually every indicator of human development.
Sierra Leone’s bright future at independence has been squandered largely through poor leadership, bad governance, and the supremacy of partisan and divisive politics over national development.
At no time in recent history, than in the last five years, have leadership failures been so costly to our well-being, to our human dignity; to our national unity; and, for our long development aspirations.
Fellow Sierra Leoneans
In the coming days, I will lay before you a participatory and people-centred Party Manifesto with proposed policy interventions on both the immediate to short-term as well as the medium to long-term challenges our country faces.
At this point in time, we MUST take back our country, and
Save our economy, our national currency and our livelihood.
Restore our Freedom!
Restore our National Unity, and
Restore our Pride as a Nation
My Salone People
As you listen to me today, from across the country, in your homes, at your places of work and business, as you struggle and go about on the hustle, trying to take care of your families, I want to be honest with you…
The Challenges we face, both now and for a shared future, are not easy to fix, and I cannot do it alone.
My compatriots
I need us all to unite and work together to build our country. I know it has been a particularly frustrating last few years, having a government that does not care for or listen to its people.
I am humble enough to consult, listen and learn from you.
I am compassionate enough to feel your pain.
I am honest enough, to tell you when things are difficult.
For that is the true Sierra Leonean spirit.
For over 40 years I have served you diligently in key positions, in various governments.
Whilst in the central bank in various capacities as an economist before Sierra Leone descended into the 11-year civil war, I was part of efforts that established sound financial and monetary architecture.
During and after the war, I have been a pioneering champion of our post-conflict reconstruction in articulating and executing many of the building blocks for achieving a unified, peaceful and stable nation, namely:
- Established transitional justice mechanisms, all of which were anchored in the Ministry of Finance whilst I was Financial Secretary – Human Rights institution, Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration; Peace Keeping and Peace Building, etc.
- rebuilding and strengthening almost all of our great public institutions such as the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs; Accountant Generals Department, Audit Service, National Revenue Authority, SIERRATEL, NASSIT, National Procurement Authority, NaCSA, NCP, Statistics Sierra Leone and the ACC;
- bringing back Local Government and Decentralization;
- undertaking bold structural reforms in economic and financial management, including macroeconomic stability and financial inclusion.
In short, I have been there, seen it all and done it all so far; and with your mandate, I undertake to do more and better: first, to prevent a relapse into conflict; and second, to provide a conducive environment for sustainable growth and development and where everybody can attain their full and God-given potential.
I, SAMURA MATTHEW WILSON KAMARA, am Ready2Lead. And I ask you all to join me and play your positive part in this solemn and divine obligation to build a Sierra Leone that we can all be proud of.
On June 24, when you elect me as your President,
I promise that I will deliver the change we deserve.
I will spare no effort to unite us all as a country.
I assure you from day one, I will work tirelessly to restore our economy.
I will do whatever lies in my power and competence to bring lasting HOPE and OPPORTUNITY for all.
Vote Samura – Save Mama Salone
Thank you!
View the speech https://fb.watch/kkjb_RJJ9Z/
