The Full Speech Made by Dr Samura Kamara on Thursday, May 7, 2026

Thank you for your birthday wishes

Friends, colleagues, and fellow citizens

As I mark another year of life, purpose, and service, I am deeply grateful for the outpouring of love, warmth, and goodwill from so many of you across our beloved nation and beyond. Your kind messages, calls, prayers, and the moments of laughter you shared have reminded me of what matters most: the bonds that unite us and the hope we carry for a better Sierra Leone. Every word of encouragement, every audio message, and every video was more than a birthday greeting; it affirmed the trust you place in my continued commitment to justice and national renewal.

I am humbled, and I am renewed. This moment reminds me that public service, when guided by conscience, is among the greatest privileges a person can hold. To my family, whose love anchors me; to my colleagues and comrades in service, whose partnership strengthens me; to our supporters and well-wishers; and to every Sierra Leonean, young and old, who paused, even briefly, to remember me: thank you, from the depths of my heart. On this milestone, I reaffirm clearly and unequivocally my commitment to the ideals that have always guided our journey: the pride, freedom, dignity, and prosperity of every Sierra Leonean.

With deep appreciation and abiding respect, I have been silent for a time deliberately, painfully, and at great personal cost. Many have asked why; some may even have wondered whether I had left you behind. Let me be clear: I have not. I have never abandoned you, and I have never traded your vote or your will for anyone’s favour. What I have done is to place our cause in Sierra Leone before God Almighty, to whom all things are possible. Yet, I know the questions that continue to trouble our national conscience: Did my vote count? Do elections still matter in Sierra Leone? When and how will God restore our hope, our dignity, and our humanity?

The demand for electoral justice and democratic legitimacy will remain valid and urgent unless and until election fraud is openly criminalised and fully eliminated. That is why I cannot ignore the weight of your pain; I carry it with you. I am not on a 2028 election agenda, while 2023 remains unresolved, guided by the 2023 vote. The will of the people is paramount. As a concerned citizen, I remain deeply alarmed by what has befallen Sierra Leone, and I do not believe we should accept it as normal.

We deserve truth and justice at all times, even when doing what is right implicates one of us or challenges all of us. For too long, we have fallen short, sometimes through silence, sometimes through division, and sometimes through selfish calculation. If we truly seek transformative change, we must not place partisan politics, self-interest, regional or tribal excuses, or short-term gain above the will of the people.

Let me close with a call to conscience for every citizen. We did not seek independence only to inherit new chains. We did not fight for the ballot so that it could become a battlefield. And we must never accept a system in which the party in power becomes the referee, the player, and the scorekeeper, all at once. That is not democracy; it is political dominance. And dominance, in any form, ultimately ends in grief.

I say this because the June 24, 2023, elections left a landmark wound of grief that has touched families and communities, bringing deep emotional, physical, and psychological distress. It remains a wake-up call to our national conscience. The call for electoral truth, justice, and democracy is bigger than party politics; it is the people’s cause. It is about listening to aggrieved voters. It is a call to conscience and moral courage. And it is a peaceful demand—rooted in conviction, sincerity, and faith.

Democracy is the foundation for lasting peace, love, unity, social justice, and prosperity. So today, let us choose conscience. Let us choose truth and justice. Let us choose the restoration of our democracy. Let us refuse to lose our future. The road ahead still holds promise, and together, we will walk it with courage and conviction. May God bless Sierra Leone. And may we bless her through the courage to acknowledge our wrongs and shortcomings, and the resolve to do what is right, even when it is hard.

My Sierra Leone – My Responsibility