Hon. Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray, the national chairman of Sierra Leone’s main opposition All People’s Congress (APC) and a former cabinet minister, has died.
Details surrounding his death were not immediately available, and the party had yet to issue a formal statement at the time of publication.
Mr Mansaray, a veteran politician and long-serving member of the APC, served as a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2007 before joining the government of former president Ernest Bai Koroma.
Following the APC’s victory in the 2007 elections, he was appointed Minister of Labour and later served as Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources.
Born in Tonkolili District and raised in Freetown, Mr Mansaray studied at Fourah Bay College and worked for the Sierra Leone National Insurance Company before entering politics.
He was elected the APC’s deputy leader and deputy chairman in 2012 and became national chairman of the party after winning the position at the party’s delegates’ conference in Makeni in 2023.
Mr Mansaray remained one of the opposition party’s most influential figures and continued to serve as its elected chairman until his death, despite the expiry of the current executive’s tenure pending the election of a new leadership.
His death comes at a critical time for the APC, which has been seeking to reorganise its structures and prepare for the next electoral cycle.
In 2025, the party announced that Mr Mansaray had travelled to India for medical treatment and said he was responding well amid speculation over his health.
Tributes are expected from across Sierra Leone’s political divide as party supporters and national leaders reflect on his decades of public service.
Further details, including funeral arrangements, are expected to be announced by his family and the APC.
