Press Statement for Immediate Release, 25 July 2022
As a right based organization, we have noticed and documented with keen concern, a worrying video making rounds on social media relating to hate speech and ethnical intimidation from the All-People’s Congress (APC) flagbearer for the 2018 presidential election, Samura Kamara (Dr.) making erroneous statement to young people in the northern province of Sierra Leone, alleging that only one tribe benefits from the current administration. We view such statement to be inciting, unfounded, and one that has the potency to lead a state to political intolerance, ethnic divide, and chaos.
Samura Kamara (Dr.) is a political figure that one considers to be a senior citizen who is also endeavoring to lead this country, and making such statement will derail all effort to consolidate our existing peace and democracy in Sierra Leone. Therefore, we are calling on him to apologize to the people of Sierra Leone for making such unprecedented statement.
As a civil society and development organization, we are also calling on all political leaders, civil society organizations, and governance institutions across the country to condemn the action of Samura Kamara (Dr.) purported linking one tribe among all others as the only benefactor of government appointments and job openings in Sierra Leone.
It could also be recalled that the current Mayor of the Freetown City Council, Yvonne Aki Sawyer, has once allegedly made a similar statement by intimidating certain tribes within the confine of the council’s administration.
Therefore, we are calling on the leadership of the All-People’s Congress (APC) to strongly condemn, disassociate, and denounce themselves from the recent tribal remarks of Samura Kamara (Dr.) in the Northern Regions of Sierra Leone. As an organization promoting human rights, democracy, and good governance in Sierra Leone, we are in total support of freedom of speech while also condemning any form of hate speech that undermines peace, democracy, and state security.
– Abdul Karim Habib, Executive Director, NMDHR