During this same lawless era Boima Kahunla died and was
succeeded by his son Mba Musa. Musa's nickname "Mba" means rice and
alluded to his excellent farms which provided food for many warriors,
but it was this fame that brought his death. Benya became jealous of
Musa because he had become rich by faming
10
Max Gorvie, op. cit.,
p. 55 11 Rev. A. T. Sumner, "The Derivation of
Certain Place Names in the Protectorate of Sierra Leone." Sierra Leone Studies, no. 15,
December 1929, p. 9.
while Benya had had to fight to gain his wealth. These two men had
previously been friends, so when Benya sent for Musa to come to his
camp the latter did so without suspicion. When Musa arrived he was made
a prisoner and thrown into the Mende equivalent of stocks. He was
placed into a hole in the ground and dirt was filled in around him so
that he was immobilized. While in this pit, Mba Musa caught smallpox
and died.
Benya had been the source of much bloodshed and misery
during this period but he was soon to be vanquished. Destroyed villages
had been rebuilt; previous citizens returned to be reinforced by new
settlers. Many of these banded together under Faba's leadership when
Benya slew his eldest son. Although Faba easily defeated Benya's
previously victorious war boys, Benya eluded capture by fleeing into
Kissi country and was never heard from again.
After the downfall of Benya, relative peace reigned in the
Eastern Province again. Faba died a natural death in the late 1880's
and
his son, Nyagua, succeeded him as warrior overlord. In 1889 G. H.
Garrett first made contact with Nyagua for the British. Nyagua agreed
to cooperate in return for more direct trade with Freetown and allowed
the Frontier Police to stay with him at Panguma. In 1893-4 he joined
with the British in fighting the Sofas of Samory.
In 1898 a final war began in the Sierra Leone
Protectorate. To the Mendeman it was known as the "British War" but
colonial historians have popularized the name "Hut Tax War." In the
Panguma District, of which Kenema was a part, the war consisted
of several battles around Panguma town. The British were attempting to
impose a tax on each dwelling in three of five protectorate districts.
Panguma and Koinadugu Districts were to be exempted until they became
more familiar with British practices. But trouble arose in Panguma as
well as in other parts of the protectorate. On the 9th of April, 1898,
Inspector Blakeney of the Frontier Police threatened to arrest Nyagua
for summoning chiefs to secret meetings. Two Frontiers attending these
meetings in disguise reported that Nyagua was encouraging the chiefs to
revolt and drive the white man away. As further evidence a cache of
arms was found concealed at Kenema. When threatened with arrest Nyagua
agreed to have his people give up their arms. He was kept under
surveillance and finally arrested in May. On June 4th and 7th his
followers tried to rescue him but were dispersed. Reinforcements led by
Major Fairtlough from the Ronietta District and Captain Woodman from
Bandajuma, fought their way to Panguma on the 23rd and 27th of January,
respectively. Nyagua was then taken to Freetown, tried by Royal
Commissioner Chalmers, and exiled with Bai Bureh and Bo Sherbro to the
Gold Coast where he died in 1906.12
The raid to rescue Nyagua was the only major battle in the
Kenema area, but after the fighting ended the government sent troops
marching throughout the land to demonstrate their strength. Captain
Carr, who was stationed at Bandajuma, marched through the town to
Kenema but when the people saw the troops coming they were frightened
and fled to the Kambui Hills behind the town. No shots were fired; no
engagements fought.
The Twentieth Century Through the Hut Tax War the British undermined the
existing system of suzerainty and imposed their own, the chief benefit
of which was the cessation of tribal wars. The empire of Faba and
Nyagua was divided into three chiefdoms and Madam Matto, who had been
the wife of Faba and the sister of Gbow was recognized as the Paramount
Chief of Nongowa Chiefdom. In February, 1906, the dimensions of this
new chiefdom were defined by a set of agreements between it and
Lepiana, Dodo and Lower Bambara Chiefdoms.
By 1906 Madam Matto was very old, having outlived her
husband by twenty years. While being carried in a hammock (which was
the customary form of transport for chiefs) an accident occurred and
she broke her leg. Consequently, she requested that someone be
appointed to help her with her chiefly duties. The chiefdom elders
consulted a diviner who told them that it would be propitious to
appoint a female rather than a male. Thus, it was decided that Madam
Matto's daughter, Madam Humonya, should act as regent chief. When Madam
Matto died on May 12, 1908, Humonya was elected Paramount Chief in her
own right.13
Madam Matto had ruled from her home in Largo but Madam
Humonya moved to Kenema where the British District Officer was
stationed. This is how the town became a chiefdom headquarters as well
as a district and provincial capital. Unfortunately, Madam Humonya's
reign was an inauspicioius inauguration of the new capital. In 1918 an
enquiry was held by His Excellency, Governor R.J.Wilkinson. At that
time Madam Humonya was found guilty of 1) failing to appoint a speaker,
preferring to rely on privately chosen counsellors; 2) selecting
section chiefs without consulting the people of their sections; 3)
exacting excessive fines, duties for burials, and labor for her farms;
4) misusing "stocking" as punishment; and 5) employing too many
chiefdom
police and a clerk unwanted by the people.14
The crux of the
palaver was the
12 The bulk of this account is taken from Christopher
Fyfe, A History of Sierra Leone,
London: Oxford University Press, 1962, pp. 570,585,594 and Christopher
Fyfe, Short History of Sierra Leone.
London: Longmans Green, 1962, pp.125-6, 138, 145 and 147. Information
on troop movements is to be found in C. Braithwaite Wallis, The Advance of Our West African Empire. London:
Unwin, 1903, pp. 160 and 179-184. 13 All dates for the death and election of Paramount Chiefs
are taken from the Kenema District Decree Books. The report on Madam
Humonya's election is in vol. I, p. 140. 14Ibid., pp.
327-330.
use of forced labor on her farms. She required the five chiefdom
sections to send one hundred men and one hundred women each to Kenema
to work for her. While they worked, the home villages had to provide
their food. When women became pregnant they were kept at work until
time for confinement. Men were often punished for misdemeanors such as
gambling by being sent to prison for months or by being put into
stocks. Because of her despotism and cruelty, Madam Humonya is still
considered to be the worst chief in chiefdom history and many people
vow that they will never support another woman for chief. The outcome
of the enquiry was that the private counsellors were banished; a
speaker and five new section chiefs were elected by the people; Madam
Humonya was ordered to accept a tax of rice in lieu of the "state
farms"; stocking and improper punishments were banned; and twenty-five
police and a clerk were dismissed. Madam Humonya, however, was not
deposed.
Amara Jumu, the new speaker and son of warrior Kogbandi
Vangahun, had served less than a year when he became involved in a
palaver with Humonya that ended in a fight. He was charged with serious
assault on the Paramount Chief and banished on December 20, 1918. Later
that same week the District Commissioner held a meeting of the Tribal
Authority at which the speaker's banishment was announced and the
people were asked if they wanted Madam Humonya to continue as their
chief. They unanimously voted to have her resign. This she did on
December 30, 1918.
The Tribal Authority elected as their next chief Boekari
Kpassamoray who was a descendant of Ngombulango and Kahunla, the
founders
of Kenema. His nickname "Kpassamoray" refers to the "tallest babu tree"
from which a native wine is made. His name was acquired because of his
fame as a drinker and dancer. Where Madam Humonya had been proud and
stern, he was unassuming, easy-going and friendly. He was not
interested in court cases and left his speaker to adjudicate them.
Kpassamoray brought back the banished Amara Jumu amid much celebration.
This generosity shortened his reign, as Jumu's ambitions caused him to
promote a palaver against the chief. In 1923 Chief Kpassamoray was
reputed to have arrived dead drunk at a meeting of Paramount Chiefs in
Bo. His behaviour was considered to have disgraced the chiefdom and he
lost favor among the people. Rather than fight to maintain the
chieftaincy he returned the staff of office and resigned.
Of the nine candidates who contested the office of
Paramount Chief in 1924, all relented and agreed to support Amara Jumu
except Madam Humonya. That worthy lady claimed that she had
not "relinquished" chieftaincy but only "temporarily laid it aside."
Although she walked out of the meeting with a handful of followers in
protest, Amara was unanimously elected by the remaining majority. He
took his father's name and became known as P. C. Amara Vangahun. His
reign was brief, lasting from April 7, 1924, until his death from
broncho-pneumonia on June 11, 1926. He was generally felt to have been
a good chief; therefore, in appreciation the Tribal Authority
unanimously elected his brother the next chief.
P. C. Momo Sunga Vangahun ruled from July 10, 1926, until
a cannibalism case was brought against him in 1939. Although he was
found guilty, several presumed victims were found at their home
villages after the trial was over. The fear and rumor involved in such
cases make it difficult to be certain of the decision. Since chiefs
rule for life unless deposed, it was not unusual to create a palaver as
a device to effect a change in government. Such may have been the
motive in this instance. However, the court found the evidence
sufficient to depose Chief Vangahun and to hang two of his followers,
who were accused of procuring the cannibal victims. After five years
banishment ex-chief Vangahun was allowed to return to his home at
Hangha where he soon died.
On February 17, 1942, Alpha Lalugba Kare Samba, a clerk in
the civil service, was unanimously elected Paramount Chief over five
opponents. He joined two important lineages in the chiefdom. Through
his father, Bockari Kai Samba, he was descended from Boima Kahunla and
through his mother, Musuwa, he was descended from Madam Matto. He
requested permission to use the name of his father and became known as
chief Kai Samba.
Chief Kai Samba played an important role not only in
Nongowa Chiefdom but also upon the national stage. He served on the
all- important Finance Committee in the Executive Council, the
forerunner of Parliament. He helped to found the Sierra Leone Peoples
Party. He was one of the strongest supporters of a Protectorate
Assembly and before its realization organized chief’s conferences in
Kenema District. He was also the first elected Chairman of the Kenema
District Council. Nonetheless, Chief Kai Samba’s greatest contribution
to Sierra Leone was the development of Kenema town. It was during his
reign from 1942-56 that it progressed from a small mud-wattle village
into a large, prosperous, modern protectorate town. It was the chief
who was primarily responsible for the introduction of cash crop
agriculture on a wide scale, for the establishment of new industries,
for building roads, for rebuilding the town to improve sanitation and
comfort for the development of social facilities such as schools, a
hospital, and a park, and most of all, for the attraction of
“strangers” who could contribute to the growth of the town. Chief Kai
Samba died suddenly on the 3rd of January, 1956, from asthma. This was
the day that he was to sign a committee report recommending the
creation of Kenema Township under a Town Council. Because of his death
and legal problems which developed in executing the proposal, it was
1963 before this was accomplished.
On May 11, 1956, the chief’s son, Solomonn Lalugba Kai
Samba was elected by 398 votes to G. A. Vangahun’s 16 and was crowned
Chief Kai Samba II. Unfortunately, he suffered from illness and a
Regent was appointed. In 1965 he was removed from office and pensioned
by government. The chiefdom is still in the midst of electing his
successor.
A Brief Evaluation
In Mende culture, no one elder is responsible for
transmitting the history of the chiefdom as a whole. The Court
President and leaders of ruling families, may, of course, have a
broader knowledge of chiefdom history than most elders who receive only
isolated bits of information about their own family or village. Young
men know very little history, as the elders use their knowledge as a
justification for their superior position in the society. Besides this
fragmentation of knowledge, Mende history is not memorized verbatim;
therefore, it may be retold with embellishments and errors.
In addition to the inherent inadequacies of oral
tradition, one must also contend with deliberately falsified
information. Informants are sometimes tempted to distort or withhold
essential information - in order, perhaps, to enhance his family’s
name, to protect secrets, or to mislead the foreigner he doesn’t trust.
Or, rather than appear ignorant, a man may fabricate history. One of my
informants admitted that he did not know how Kenema got its name. But
he gave the following guess as to what the meaning might be: "The
interpretation might be clear, sensible people. In Mende to say a
person is sensible they say his sense is 'Kene-Kene'." A less honest
informant would have presented his guess as an exact account received
from his great-grandfather. Thus, there is always the danger that one
will accept a false history from a good story-teller whose tale is not
contradicted by other evidence.
Mende history, more than most, is continually “revised.”
This process is encouraged by the fact that the rights of today’s
citizens to land, prestige, and chiefly office depends upon official
decisions as to the position of their ancestors. Just such a
“history-making” decision occurred in the 1956 chieftaincy election.
Candidate A.B. Nekah claimed that there had originally been two
separate Nongowa chiefdoms: 1) Nongowa Kombaima Chiefdom ruled by Madam
Matto, and 2) Nongowa Njopowahun Chiefdom ruled by Nekah. He claimed
that in 1904 the two were amalgamated with Matto as chief and Nekah as
speaker with the right to succeed as chief. When the Assessor Chiefs
and Provincial Secretary who presided over the election disqualified
Nekah for not being from a
chiefly family, they were ruling, in effect, that two separate
chiefdoms never existed. Most elders I questioned agreed that there had
been only one Nongowa Chiefdom. Yet the possibility remains that a
historical “fact” could be transformed by official decree.
While these factors do not necessarily detract from the
validity of the broader history, they do encourage a certain scepticism
of
individual facts. There is little doubt that wars between and within
tribes in the Kenema area occurred during the last
half of the
nineteenth century; that they were fought with sticks, swords and very
few guns; that some successful warriors like Faba emerged as overlords
controlling quite sizeable “empires”; that both the wars and the
empires were ended by the Hut Tax War; and that the reign of chiefs in
the new protectorate varied in their degree of despotism or
progressiveness according to the personality of the chief. On the other
hand, detailed facts such as the names of wars and warriors, dates and
kinship relations may well be incorrect in some cases.
Of what value is such a narrative, particularly one which
is almost certainly marred by factual errors? A simple account aimed at
giving a sequence and description of events is a beginning point, the
first step in synthesizing scattered sources—an outline history to be
amplified and corrected by further research. When combined with similar
descriptions of other regions and historical periods, it can be used to
create narratives of wider scope. It is a source of information for the
corroboration or refutation of “scientific” and informal hypotheses of
the social sciences and humanities.
More sophisticated studies of Sierra Leone society are
extremely difficult until such narratives are recorded. It thus becomes
the task of anthropologists, political scientists, geographers, and
economists, as well as of historians, to speed their acquisition.