By Mohamed KaiKai
Hon. Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray, national chairman of Sierra Leone’s main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party and a veteran politician who held several senior government positions, has died, local media reported on Monday. His age was not immediately known.
The APC had not immediately issued a formal statement detailing the circumstances of his death, while party supporters and political figures began paying tribute to one of the party’s most influential leaders.
Mansaray was widely regarded as a key figure within the APC and played a central role in guiding the party during its years in government under former president Ernest Bai Koroma and later during its time in opposition.
A businessman by profession, Mansaray built his early career in the insurance sector before entering frontline politics. He served as a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2007 and later held cabinet positions, including Minister of Labour and Social Security and Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources in the APC administration.
He was elected Deputy Chairman and Leader of the APC in 2012 and later rose to become the party’s national chairman, a position from which he sought to maintain unity within the opposition party following its defeat in the 2018 and 2023 elections.
Known for his close political association with former President Koroma, Mansaray remained an influential voice in national politics and often called for party cohesion amid internal disputes.
His death comes little more than a year after he publicly appealed to APC members to avoid factionalism and preserve party unity ahead of future electoral contests.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
The APC, founded in 1960, remains one of Sierra Leone’s two dominant political parties and the country’s principal opposition movement.
