MANA, SIAKA

Mana Siaka (?-1872), warrior and slave-trader, was ruler of Vai, or Gallinas, a powerful state situated on the coast between Sierra Leone and Liberia. Much of his reign was spent contesting his sovereignty against Liberian claims for control of his state.

It was under Mana and his father King Siaka, the founder of the state, that Gallinas reached the height of its power. It is believed that King Siaka was the first Massaquoi, ruling from the late 18th century. Massaquoi, meaning ‘learned man,’ was a term originally used to describe elders in general. Its Mande root is clearly discernible, Mansa, meaning chief or king. By the 19th century, however, Massaquoi had acquired a new meaning, through the evolution of the political system, and signified the holder of the imperial crown.

In 1878, the following description of the state regalia was made in a report by two British colonial officials Messrs. Edwards and Loggie: “The State Property consisted of a white metal crown which the (King) placed on his head, a crimson robe richly laced with gold, a very fine ivory war-horn, heavily ornamented with silver, and the staff of state?’ These regalia became the coveted prize for contestants to the ‘Massaquoi crown’ during the succession disputes of the 1880s. Mana, like his father, had numerous bands of professional warriors whom he paid with money acquired from the sale of slaves to the most notorious slaver in the Gallinas, Pedro Blanco. Through his wealth and influence, he rose to unquestioned superiority over all other rulers in the Gallinas, reinforcing his position through well-chosen marriage alliances with his sub-chiefs. His capital, Gendima, was sturdily built and well fortified, and Mana and his kin lived in houses of European design with European furnishings such as sofas, mirrors, and clocks.

As Gallinas grew rich on the slave trade, rice cultivation became neglected, since it was easily obtained from the Sherbro. In 1849, however, the Sherbro chiefs signed anti-slave treaties, and the Gallinas’ food-supply was cut off. In 1850, Mana also signed an anti-slave treaty and expelled slave traders from his country. But his new alliance with the British was disrupted when a consular agent, W. A. Parks, was murdered and naval ships bombarded his most accessible towns in retaliation.

Gallinas’ sovereignty was in danger, caught in an uncertain situation between Liberian claims and partial British protection. Between 1849 and 1851, the Liberian government signed treaties along the coast as far as the mouth of the River Jong, and claimed all the Gallinas and south Sherbro territories as their own.

King Mana had interpreted the treaties merely as treaties of friendship, but in 1860 the Liberian government seized a ship that had brought visitors to Mana for breaking their customs laws. The Sierra Leonean governor, Sir Stephen John Hill (term of office 1854-62) sent a gunboat to retrieve the captured ship. In 1869 there was a similar incident. Liberian militiamen were sent to seize goods from ships in the Mano River but were stopped by King Mana, whereupon the Liberian president, hoping to gain support in the forthcoming presidential elections, sent a further 300 troops who seized a ship and its cargo. But Mana insisted on his sovereignty supported by Governor Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy (terms of office 1852-54, 1868-72) who wished to see the Gallinas rid of Liberian claims.

Kennedy sent a gunboat which brought back the impounded schooner with part of the compensation promised by the Liberians, who, in spite of the fact that they could not pay the full amount, continued to claim the Gallinas. In 1870 they again sent in troops who attacked several towns and plundered some traders. Finally, they proposed that an international boundary commission should settle their claims. It was not, however, until 1917 that the boundary between Liberia and Sierra Leone was finally fixed.

Mana’s death in 1872 marked the end of the Vai state’s period of power. He was succeeded by his brother Jaya-blind, elderly, inebriated and totally unfit to rule. Wars broke out as various contestants aspired to the authority of the Massaquo: crown, but the colonial administration intervened to prevent the resurgence of a state weakened by persistent wars of succession and the decline of the slave trade. Later, in the colonial period, a paramount chief was appointed over the entire Vai state.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM