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Former presidential candidate, Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara has congratulated Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye on his election as Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), while urging the new regional leader to push for genuine democratic reform in Sierra Leone.
In a statement issued following the 69th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government held in Freetown on July 19, Kamara described the leadership handover as “a proud moment for the sub-region” and praised President Faye as representing “a rising generation of West African statesmanship rooted in accountability, reform, and respect for the will of the people”.
Kamara, who was the 2018 and 2023 presidential candidate of the All Peoples Congress (APC), used the occasion to renew his long-standing call for electoral justice in Sierra Leone. He urged full implementation of the recommendations from the Agreement for National Unity and the Tripartite Committee, restoration of confidence in the electoral process, and equal application of the rule of law.
“The people of Sierra Leone are watching this momentous change in the ECOWAS leadership with hope,” Kamara stated. “They ask only for what every citizen of our Community is entitled to: a democracy that is real rather than performed, institutions that serve the nation rather than the powerful, and a political settlement that heals rather than merely pacifies”.
Kamara’s call for electoral justice stems from the disputed June 24, 2023, multi-tier elections, which the opposition has described as “deeply flawed”.
The APC has persistently demanded the publication of disaggregated polling data from the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone and has called for a re-run of the elections. The party’s own analysis of Results Reconciliation Forms from 70.2 percent of polling stations reportedly showed Kamara leading with 57.15 percent of the vote.
The Tripartite Committee, established following the 2023 elections through the Agreement for National Unity, issued 84 recommendations for electoral, institutional, and legal reforms in June 2024. However, implementation has been slow, with the APC launching a two-month boycott of Parliament and local councils in February 2026 over the appointment of Edmond Sylvester Alpha as Chief Electoral Commissioner.
The boycott was resolved in April 2026 following mediation by International Moral Guarantors comprising ECOWAS, UNOWAS, and the Commonwealth. Under the agreement, the government committed to restructuring the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone by December 31, 2026. However, Kamara has consistently maintained that a full re-run of the 2023 elections is necessary to restore public trust.
Kamara appealed to the new ECOWAS Chairman, the African Union, European Union, United Kingdom, United States, and other international partners to remain firm in supporting democratic standards in member states.
“Pressure toward genuine reform is not interference. It is fidelity to the very values we have all pledged to uphold,” he added.
The leadership transition took place at the Freetown summit, where President Julius Maada Bio completed his one-year term as ECOWAS Chairman and formally handed over the mantle to President Faye.
