Former minister Samura Kamara releases memoir on Sierra Leone's democracy
The former presidential candidate's book covers four decades of public service and the disputed 2018 and 2023 elections.
Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and two-time presidential candidate of the All People's Congress (APC), has released a memoir titled "My Circumstances of Life: Service, Betrayal and the Struggle for Sierra Leone's Democracy". The book, now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback and hardcover, traces his career from his birth in 1951 in Kamalo village to senior posts including Financial Secretary, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone and Minister of Finance.
The memoir covers the civil war, post-war reconstruction, economic recovery and the Ebola outbreak. A large part concerns the 2018 and 2023 presidential elections, which the APC challenged after the official results were announced. Kamara recounts a post-election meeting with President Julius Maada Bio, where, he says, discussions included detained individuals and people who died during the unrest.
The book also examines the Agreement for National Unity, which came out of political dialogue between the government and the APC after the 2023 elections.
Why it mattersReaders can see Kamara's own account of the 2018 and 2023 elections and of the talks that followed the 2023 vote, including the detentions and deaths discussed with the president.