Samura Kamara Releases Memoir on Public Service and Sierra Leone’s Democratic Struggles

Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara has released a memoir recounting his career in Sierra Leone’s public administration, his political experiences and his interpretation of the country’s democratic challenges.

Titled My Circumstances of Life: Service, Betrayal and the Struggle for Sierra Leone’s Democracy, the book is available through Amazon in Kindle, paperback and hardcover editions. The source information does not specify an exact release date.

A career in public service

The memoir covers approximately four decades of Kamara’s public service and political life. His senior government roles included Financial Secretary, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Minister of Finance and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Born in 1951 in Kamalo village, Kamara uses the publication to discuss major periods in Sierra Leone’s recent history, including the civil war, post-war reconstruction, efforts toward economic recovery and the Ebola outbreak.

Those sections are presented as his personal account of events he witnessed and in which he participated.

Focus on disputed elections

A significant part of the memoir examines the 2018 and 2023 presidential elections, in which Kamara represented the All People’s Congress as its candidate. According to the account, both elections generated controversy, and Kamara and the APC challenged the officially announced results.

The book also discusses the Agreement for National Unity and its connection to the subsequent Tripartite Committee process. The agreement was intended to promote national reconciliation, strengthen electoral institutions and address concerns about the credibility of future elections.

Kamara also recounts a post-election meeting with President Julius Maada Bio, presenting it as part of efforts to address political tensions. His description of that meeting is attributed to his own account.

Political relationships and allegations

The memoir examines Kamara’s relationship with former President Ernest Bai Koroma. Kamara says Koroma supported his emergence as the APC presidential flagbearer, while also describing a later deterioration in their political relationship and personal friendship.

Kamara rejects suggestions that he abandoned or compromised the electoral interests of his supporters after the disputed 2023 election. In the memoir, he writes: “I did not trade away the votes of Sierra Leoneans… those votes were never mine to trade.”

The accounts of the elections, political disagreements and personal relationships in the book represent Kamara’s recollections and interpretations. They are not presented as independently established findings.