Samura Kamara to Pick Sam-Sumana as 2023 Running Mate

Indications have emerged that the All People’s Congress, (APC) has picked former Vice President, Samuel Sam-Sumana, as the preferred running mate for the party’s presidential candidate, Dr. Samura Kamara, ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.

This revelation was made known to Sierraloaded by a senior member of the party on Wednesday.

Samura Kamara won the presidential primaries of the APC on Monday defeating other candidates by a landslide of 1,382 valid votes. Whiles his closest rival – Dr Richard Conteh polled 88 votes, the votes cast for all 17 candidates who ran against Dr Samura Kamara, including void votes, totalled 277.

Since his victories at the primaries, there have been speculations on whom Kamara’s will select as his running mate. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was scheduled to announce his running mate on Tuesday but it was learnt that He deferred the plan to further consult with the party’s leadership.

The party leaders are said to be discussing the criteria for selecting a suitable person, including experience, educational credentials and geo-political balance. It was gathered that they are also considered the possibility of fielding a running mate who has a deep knowledge of the country and economy.

Reports on Tuesday said the party had shortlisted three candidates including, Sheik Alhaji Mohamed Kamara alias Jagaban, Hon. Chernor Maju Bah and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr. However, new developments on Tuesday shows the party may be exploring other options.

It was revealed that the APC leadership settled for the choice of former Vice President, Sam Sumana as part of its strategy to win the forthcoming elections.

“In 2018, the APC lost a lot of votes in Kono district and many part of the Eastern Province. We have a strong followership from Freetown where Chericoco and Ak-Sawyerr are based.  It is only strategic that our party picks a running mate from Kono to unlock these stolen votes in 2023.”, the source said adding that the choice of running mate is a critical success factor for the victory of APC in the June 24th multi-tier elections.

Sierraloaded also learnt that the new party leadership had a meeting in Makeni on Monday with the former President and erstwhile leader of the party, Ernest Bai Koroma who welcomed the initiative of selecting a running mate from Kono. According to him, the option of Sam-Sumana was vital for strengthening the APC in the East and improve leadership engagements and cohesion within the province.

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Meanwhile, it was gathered that party has also resolved to reserve the position of the Speaker on Parliament to would go to Hon. Chernor Maju Bah who served as the running mate to Samura Kamara in the 2018 Presidential elections.