Samura Kamara

This article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This biographical article is written like a résumé. Please by revising it to be neutral and encyclopedic. (December 2017) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Samura Kamara
Kamara in 2014
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone
In office 2012–2017
President	Ernest Bai Koroma
Preceded by	Joseph Bandabla Dauda
Succeeded by	Kaifala Marah
Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone
In office February 2009 – January 2013
Preceded by	David Carew
Succeeded by	Kaifala Marah
Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone
In office 2007–2009
Preceded by	James David Rogers
Succeeded by	Sheku Sambadeen Sesay
Personal details
Born	Samura Kamara Kamalo, Bombali District {now Karene District}, Sierra Leone
Nationality	Sierra Leonean
Political party	All People's Congress (APC)
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Massah Kamara
Residence	Freetown, Sierra Leone
Alma mater	Fourah Bay College
Profession	economist
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara is a Sierra Leonean politician and economist. He was the All Peoples Congress (APC) Party's nominee for President of Sierra Leone in the 2018 election. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone from 2012 to 2017,^[1][2] Minister of Finance and Economic Development from 2009 to 2013, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2009, Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance during President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's administration.

Early life and education[]

Early life[]

Dr. Samura Mathew Wilson Kamara was born in Kamalo, Karene District, North-Western Province of Sierra Leone, then a colony of United Kingdom. His father Pa Gibril Kamara was an ethnic from Maworrko village near Rothuk and Magbanktha villages, Gberray Junction, Maforki chiefdom, Port Loko District. Dr. Samura Kamara's mother, Ya Bomporro Kamara (née Kanu) is an indigene of Kamalo, Sanda Loko Chiefdom, Karene District, North-Western Region.^[3]

Education[]

Dr. Samura Kamara received his early education at the UCC in Bo, Southern Sierra Leone. He is married to Mrs. Elizabeth Massah Kamara (née Rogers). Mrs. Kamara is an indigene of Pujehun District in the Southern Province. Her mother hailed from Masam Kpaka and her father from Blama Massaquoi.

Dr. Samura Kamara continued his education at the Saint Edwards Secondary School in Freetown, stayed at Montague Street and Guard Street, Eastern Freetown, and was very active in football circles as a goalkeeper.

He proceeded to Fourah Bay College where he earned a bachelor's degree in Economics in 1972. He holds a PhD in Development Economics (1986) from Bangor University in Wales, United Kingdom.

Career[]

In a bid to enhance protection of its funds in the military ruled war-time Sierra Leone, and enhance effective use of international resources for the average Sierra Leonean, Dr. Samura Kamara was in 1994 appointed Programme Manager by the World Bank for its Structural Support Programme to the country.^[4] He also served as Financial Secretary during this time as part of efforts to build trust in the management of the mainly international donor flows which constituted over three quarters of the government's non- military financial receipts. He became Secretary of State, Finance in January 1996 after Julius Maada Bio overthrew Valentine Strasser.^[5] He was to ensure that such vital services to the people of the country were not cut off during the transition to civilian rule.

He subsequently served as Financial Secretary, and as Bank Governor, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the APC Administration of Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma. Kamara crafted and implemented the Agenda for Change (2008–12). His stewardship of the economy as Finance Minister saw real average GDP growth of 5.2% per annum (excluding iron ore). Before moving to the Foreign Ministry in 2012, Dr. Samura Kamara, with leadership provided by the President, designed the Agenda for Prosperity.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, he signed and implemented Joint Cooperation Agreements and Bilateral Memoranda of Understanding with China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Korea and the United States of America. He also strengthened bilateral relations through establishment of Embassies and Consulates in strategic geographical locations to promote Sierra Leone's interest, including in South Korea; United Arab Emirates; and relocation of the Mission in Tripoli, Libya to Cairo, Egypt. Plans are now being implemented for the establishment of resident diplomatic mission in Kenya.

Kamara facilitated and coordinated international support for the implementation of Government priority programmes in the Agenda For Prosperity, and mobilized and coordinated international support during the Ebola scourge and the recent mudslide and flood disaster in Freetown. He coordinated design and Government's endorsement of agreements with USAID for the implementation of projects in Agriculture, Governance and Women's empowerment; and also with the Japanese Government for the improvement of the Energy infrastructure.

Kamara chaired the African Caucus constituency meetings two years in a row. As Foreign Minister, he serves as Chair of the Ministerial Meetings of the African Union C10 committee on the Reform of the United Nations, and he is also Chair of the AU Candidatures Committee to promote African leadership in high-profile global positions. He has on several occasions chaired the Peace and Security Council of the AU, which is the continental body's most prominent council that is charged with ensuring peace and security in Africa.

As financial secretary, Kamara championed the merger of the Income Tax Department with Custom and Excise Department resulting in the creation of the National Revenue Authority. He also helped in the establishment of the National Public Procurement Authority.

As Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, he prepared and launched a comprehensive strategic document known as the Sierra Leone Foreign Service Transformation Strategy, 2014 – 2018. As in the Ministry of Finance, he enhanced increased staff capacity of the Ministry and Missions, ensured salary increases in the Ministry, created new directorates, and facilitated training of staff within and outside the country. He upgraded the ICT Infrastructure of the Ministry, ensured the production of Sierra Leone's first diplomatic magazine and Official Directory of Sierra Leone's Overseas Missions and Consulates, which were launched by the President in July 2017.

He was the lead technocrat in the negotiation team that won Sierra Leone debt cancellation in 2007. As Chair of African Caucus constituency he guided negotiations resulting in Africa getting a 3rd chair on the World Bank Executive Board.

Kamara is currently leading Africa's ministerial negotiating team on the reform of the United Nations.

Kamara strengthened Sierra Leone's multilateral relations by facilitating the ratification and/or domestication of The 1954 Convention on the status of Stateless Persons; The 1961 Convention on the reduction of Statelessness; The 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations; and The Constitutive Act of the Pan African Parliament; and the world's premier multilateral environmental protection agreements such as, the Minamata convention on Mercury; the Nagoya Protocol; the Basel Convention on the control of trans- boundary movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

As Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone, his concern for the poor ensured his design and implementation of programmes that resulted in poverty incidence falling from 66% in 2004 to 53% in 2011.

Outside his work as a government official, he has out of personal resources brought electricity to Kamalo, supported education in Kamalo by offering scholarships to hundreds.

Kamara was chosen on October 15 as the Flag Bearer for the ruling All Peoples Congress for Sierra Leone's 2018 Presidential Elections. He received 42.7% in the first round election.

SLPP’s commission of inquiry[]

In 2018, immediately after taking office, President Julius Maada Bio’s administration announced Commissions of Inquiry (COI)^[6] approved to look into the performance of former All People’s Congress (APC) Government officials and that the scope of the inquiry will cover the period November, 2007 to April, 2018. Over 300 persons who served in senior positions in the former Koroma administration including Samura Kamara were indicted. Honourable Justice John Rosolu Bankole Thompson who headed Commission Number 2 of the three Commissions of Inquiry blasted the Bio regime for misusing the COI in a manner that was "not reasonable or permissible" and also "not cognizable" under the COI legal framework that President Bio had sent for approval to Parliament.^[7]

APC party leadership campaign[]

In 2020 it was announced that the All People's Congress (APC) would hold their convention to elect a new leader that will challenge president Julius Maada Bio of the SLPP who is facing re-election for a second five-year term in 2023. Kamara, who contested the previous election with Bio in 2018 announced his candidacy for the leadership of the All People's Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 Sierra Leone presidential and parliamentary elections. He is one of seven candidates for the APC leadership. Kamara was chosen as Flag Bearer in 2018 by selection by then outgoing president and APC party chairman Ernest Koroma, instead of election- a move that was unpopular with the majority of APC supporters.^[8] APC ultimately lost the elections to the SLPP.^[9]

See also[]

• List of foreign ministers in 2017
• List of current foreign ministers

References[]