A Sierra Leone court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Samura Kamara, opposition leader and runner-up in last June’s presidential election, on corruption charges.

The Court of Appeal “has ordered the immediate arrest of former All People’s Congress Party (APC) presidential candidate Dr Samura M.W. Kamara” for his alleged involvement in a transaction that involved the sale of shares held by the Sierra Leone government in a mining company in 2012, the court said in a statement.

At the time of the alleged offence, Kamara was finance minister under the then president Ernest Bai Koroma.

Kamara’s lawyer could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Kamara came second in the June 2023 presidential election, won by Julius Maada Bio. The opposition leader rejected the result.

The APC claimed that the presidential, parliamentary and local elections had all been rigged, and decided to boycott the parliament and local councils.

The government and the APC finally reached a deal in October, with the APC agreeing to end its boycott in exchange for an end to politically motivated detentions and court cases.

After his election for a first term in 2018, President Bio launched a vigorous campaign against corruption, reputed to be endemic in the country and the squandering of public assets.

Several senior members of the Koroma administration were implicated. The APC, the former ruling party, cried “witch-hunt”.

Since December 2021, Kamara has been on trial for allegedly embezzling more than $2.5 million of public funds in a project to renovate the consulate in New York when he was foreign minister.

Last month, Freetown was the scene of clashes described by the government as an “attempted coup”.

Armed attackers stormed a military armoury, two barracks, two prisons and two police stations during the early hours of November 26, clashing with security forces.

The fighting left 21 people dead — 18 members of the security forces and three assailants — according to official figures. Since then, 80 people have been arrested.

Former president Koroma has been named as a suspect in the organisation of the November 26 events, police said on Tuesday.

After that announcement, he was confined to his home.

West Africa has been hit by a series of coups since 2020, with the military taking power in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea. (AFP via Channels)

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