Sierra Leone’s opposition APC picked the former foreign minister as their presidential candidate, despite an ongoing investigation which alleges that he stole $2.5 million from public coffers.
In a broadcast published on Kamara’s Twitter page, delegates of the opposition party announced that he won his candidacy after a majority 1,382 of the 1,627 delegates voted in his favor.
Kamara’s selection to lead the APC into June’s election comes amid a pending High Court judgement of the $2.5 million corruption case against him and five others.
Experts report that the verdict on the case against the opposition leader will be passed on Thursday and if convicted he will be barred from contesting in the upcoming elections.
Sidie Yahya Tunis, the APC’s national publicity secretary said his party stands by their newly elected candidate who will find himself challenging the incumbent president once again.
“Dr Samara Kamara has maintained his innocence since the allegations were first brought against him by the anti-corruption commission over two years ago,” said Tunis.
“Those of us who have been following the case closely in court seem to agree with him because we have yet to see real evidence pointing at him,” he added.
VOA's James Butty contributed to this report. Some information came from Agence France-Presse.