FREETOWN, November 2026 — Former Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, Bank Governor and two-time All People’s Congress (APC) presidential flagbearer, Dr. Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara, has released his memoir titled My Circumstances of Life: Service, Betrayal, and the Struggle for Sierra Leone’s Democracy.
The book, which chronicles his over four-decade career in public service, was launched this month. It is now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback and hardcover, and in local bookstores in Sierra Leone.
Dr. Kamara, 75, born in Kamalo, Karene District, traces his journey from the civil service in the 1980s, through the civil war, post-war reconstruction, and the 2014-2016 Ebola crisis. He served as Financial Secretary under President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone (2007-2009), Minister of Finance (2009-2013) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012-2017) before being handpicked by former President Ernest Bai Koroma as APC flagbearer in 2018. 159c
The memoir offers his first detailed personal account of the most controversial years of his political life.
On 2018 and 2023 Elections and Alleged Betrayal
Dr. Kamara writes about the disputed 2018 and 2023 presidential elections, which both saw him as the APC candidate against President Julius Maada Bio of the SLPP. In both elections, the APC rejected the results citing irregularities.
The book addresses the long-running accusations of betrayal that have divided the APC. In March 2025, a leaked audio allegedly featuring former President Koroma accused Dr. Kamara of holding secret talks with President Bio after the June 24, 2023 elections without party consent, a charge that sparked heated debate within the party.
Dr. Kamara also addresses his post-election meeting with President Bio and the subsequent Tripartite Committee on electoral reforms that was formed to review the 2023 elections and propose recommendations for future elections.
In what is already the most quoted line of the book, Dr. Kamara states on the fallout:
“I did not trade away the votes of Sierra Leoneans… those votes were never mine to trade.”
The memoir also discusses the fracture of his long friendship with former President Koroma, who chose him as successor in 2018 but later distanced himself during the 2023 election dispute.
In May this year, APC National Publicity Secretary Sidi Yahya Tunis rejected claims that the party had abandoned Dr. Kamara over electoral justice, saying the party remains committed to Tripartite recommendations, but that it would be a “grave betrayal” to mislead supporters that the 2023 outcome could be overturned. Dr. Kamara announced in May that he would not contest the 2028 elections.
