APC ON TIME BOMB!
A clear wave of another APC’s election defeat seems being in the buildup as the 2028 electoral cycle approaches by every tick of the clock. Amidst deep-seated calumny, chaos and marked divisions, the national executive of the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) is already set to conduct its lower level elections, starting early October. Whether this will be a successful path for future electoral victory is yet to be ascertained.
The party’s internal politics is fraught by wrangling due to petty jealousy and grudges, hate, calumny and the hegemony for its presidential candidacy ahead of the national polls in 2028. The party is confronted with a leadership crisis. At the heart of this crisis strongly stands Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara, Abubakar Sidique Sam-Sumana, and the mushrooming flagbearer aspirants for the 2028 elections. Dr Samura Kamara is the presidential candidate for both 2018 and 2023 elections, and he performed very well in those races. It’s firmly held that he was deprived of electoral victory in 2018 in the guise of regime change, and his victory out of the June 24, 2023, was hijacked with brazen impunity.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2023 elections, the entire APC executive and members assured party supporters and sympathisers that Dr Kamara won, and they were not going to accept otherwise. International and local election observer missions also raised red flags, describing the outcome as not credible. Since then, the political landscape of Sierra Leone continues to be polarized by perplexing contradictions—democratic ideals clashing with troubling realities, and the truth with falsehood. And though the controversy surrounding the 2023 national polls remains unresolved, with Samura Kamara calling and fighting vehemently for “electoral justice,” members of the party’s national executive have since reneged on fighting to reclaim the stolen victory they alleged. They have taken what many call a “betrayal path” not just against Samura and the APC party, but even the fabrics of democracy Sierra Leoneans paid dear prices for.
As the party’s lower tiers are about to be held, the party publicity secretariat continues to assure the public of Dr Samura’s eligibility for the flagbearer contest under the new constitution of the party. Whether this means a heavy knot on Samura’s fight for electoral justice, only time will tell.
The other dilemma engulfing the APC, but which the present executive appears to be treating with levity is the issue of Sam-Sumana’s eligibility for the impending flagbearer race. Sam-Sumana was vice president throughout the first term, and two years of the second term of Ernest Bai Koroma-led APC government. He was expelled from the party for alleged anti-party activities, and shortly removed from the vice presidency for no longer belonging to a political party—being one of the requirements for the presidency and vice.
Sam-Sumana formed the Coalition for Democratic Change (C4C) in the years that followed ahead of the 2018 elections. All appeals for his C4C party to merge with the APC for the 2018 runoff election failed, though he allegedly received a colossal sum of money for that purpose. For obvious reasons, however, he left his new party and decided to return to the APC.
But majority of the APC fraternity no longer appears to consider Sam as a force to reckon with, save the insignificant minority. Even as a national delegates’ convention has endorsed his readmission into the fold of the APC, his eligibility for the flagbearer race remains not noteworthy by many top executive members on grounds that he would not fulfil the party constitution’s residential clause of 5 years. Yet, Sam, backed by his followers, insists he’s qualified to contest, arguing that since he has been “readmitted” his membership far exceeds the 5 year constitutional clause.
However, many in the APC see the return of former Vice President Sam-Sumana as a leeway for rebuilding lost trust not only in Kono District, but the entire east of the country. Whether Sam is naturally qualified, or the party constitution is being twisted to knock him out of the race, only time will tell also. But what stands out clear is that many APCians are still bitter with Sam for allow his C4C membership to merge with the Maada Bio 2018 runoff bid, instead of the APC party, which he left in the cold—a feat of vengeance.
Allowing the growing number of constants for the flagbearer position is seen as a repeated mistake that will not unite the party but rather leave it disintegrated like it silently did in the last days to the 2018 elections. This is a dilemma also, and if not appropriately handled will pose a serious danger for the party.
The APC is in limbo—a state of uncertainty, and suspense—where no progress, clarity, and a direction are yet in sight due to entrenched internal disagreements. But prioritising internal peace and unity over wranglings is the only sure path. If the APC executive handlers are not wise enough to urgently take a good direction and circumvent the dilemmas that have besieged their party in real time, a tragedy will set in, and recovery from submersion will not be achieved easily. In other words, the party will not only be exposed to another defeat at the next elections, but the very soul of the party will be debilitated and eventually destroyed.
It’s about time the party took a bold, critical decision that will shape its future. History will remember, and posterity will judge the present executive whether they used this moment judiciously for not just the progress of the APC, but Sierra Leone by extension.