By Yusufu Sesay
Senior district officials in Kambia District, North-Western Sierra Leone, have been accused of allegedly working in concert to undermine the chieftaincy administration of Samu Chiefdom.
The District Officer (D.O.), Charles K. Lamin, and the Assistant District Officer (A.D.O.), Momo Fofana, have been accused of allegedly sabotaging decisions and actions of the Paramount Chief of Samu Chiefdom, Alhaji Hon. Paramount Chief Bai Shebora Yek II, in an attempt to undermine his authority before his subjects.
According to reports, the alleged dispute dates back to the Section Chieftaincy election in Makuma, Lower Samu, where a reportedly free and fair election was conducted in 2023 and a winner declared.
“But the D.O. and his Assistant caused the election to be nullified for a flimsy reason simply because their preferred candidate failed to win,” a Samu resident in his 50s alleged.
The resident further claimed that no subsequent election has been conducted to elect a Section Chief to administer the area.
The two district administrators have also been accused of allegedly delaying the Section Chieftaincy election in Bubuya, Samu, where a Declaration of Rights has reportedly been conducted several times without an election taking place.
Sources further alleged that the two officers, particularly Assistant D.O. Momo Fofana, who has reportedly been on the ground for an extended period, have been working behind the scenes to create an additional ruling house alongside the two recognized ruling houses.
However, residents of Bubuya are said to have resisted any attempt to increase the number of recognized ruling houses in the section.
The current Sierra Leone Ambassador to Guinea, Mohamed Foday Yumkella, who contested against PC Yek II and lost in 2004, and a certain Tribal Head in Freetown who hails from Kambia District, are alleged to have been behind the nefarious plot.
