Karamon Kabba: A Case for Alhaji Samsumana’s Status in the APC — Rethinking the APC’s Five Years Clause and the Kono Question
Any member aspiring for the position of Presidential Candidate shall have been a member of the Party for a continuous period of not less than five (5) years immediately preceding the date of the election.”
Let me register my personal position regarding the Five Years clause in the APC constitution; the very clause that has entangled us in this ongoing political quagmire.
Whether its intent was to eliminate certain players or to shield the party from wealthy, famous, and potentially unsuitable individuals, the clause has proven to be counterproductive; unprogressive, discriminatory, and small-minded.
Yet, we are stuck with it. And its negative impact falls most perceptually on Kono. While many districts boast multiple potential flag bearers without bearing any taint of being divided, the party’s renewed perception of Kono as divided stems squarely from the debate surrounding Samsumana’s membership status.
Some of us foresaw this situation long ago and tried to act preemptively: We offered thoughtful solutions, but neither Samsumana nor the party heeded them.
Allow me now to use this opportunity to speak directly to my fellow Kono people and reflect on those unrealized solutions:
As a Kono man, I believe our most realistic path to the presidency was the one we squandered—ascending from vice president to president through loyal, humble, and selfless service to our party and to Sierra Leone.
This matters because we are concentrated in a single district: our population alone cannot secure the presidency without unwavering support from a national party—be it the APC or SLPP.
And let me state categorically: neither party can form a government without at least 40% of the Kono vote. That makes us transactional politicians in my opinion.
Historically, Dr. Siaka Stevens mastered this transactional engagement. At one point, almost every Kono parliamentarian held a ministerial position unapologetically. And no politician has achieved that feat of a solid grip on Kono politically.
Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma came very close when he selected Samsumana as his running mate in 2007 and appointed a few of us as ministers. What derailed that opportunity of him ascending to presidency is a complex volume of political history in itself.
But let’s return to the core issue: the failure to regularize Samsumana’s membership and qualification for flag bearer after the APC’s 2023 electoral loss to the SLPP:
Many of us in Kono felt deeply aggrieved before the 2023 election for obvious and varying reasons. Let it be known that nothing under the sun could get seasoned stakeholders like Logus Koroma and John Yambassu to challenge the APC. Yet, without them, we acted deliberately, not in pursuit of a presidency we knew had slipped away, but in the belief that restoring Samsumana’s status could foster peace and unity in Kono.
We were ready to support our brother to secure the flag bearer position and to rally behind whoever emerged as our candidate.
But Samsumana leaned heavily on certain individuals I won’t name here, for the sake of party cohesion. Our strategy wasn’t to go to court, but to collect nationwide stakeholder signatures opposing the nagging Five Years clause, and present them to the NAC with a petition.
Samsumana didn’t cooperate. He insisted on resolving his membership issue post-election, independently of our collective efforts.
Now, we remain stuck. Tensions between Samsumana and Diana have resurfaced mainly from his supporters that are worried about Diana’s solo part to national peace amongst APC women, and the fear that Samsumana will be denied the chance to contest for flag bearer, renewing the perception amongst APC members that Kono is in a political disarray once more.
I still hold out hope that Samsumana’s issue will be resolved without attracting further legal implications for the Party. But let us not fall for the fallacy that every Kono politician must support him to dispel perceptions of disunity. Even Samsumana himself said, “He would welcome all his supporters into his father’s house—where there are many rooms for all of us.”