MANNAH-KPAKA, JOHN

John Mannah-Kpaka (circa 1865-1945), a member of the powerful Gallinas family of Rogers or Крака, was a wealthy trader who later became paramount chief of the Kpaka chiefdom.

The Rogers family were descended from an English filibuster, Zachary Rogers, who came out in the service of the Gambia Adventurers Company in 1668 and married an African wife belonging to the ruling Gallinas family of Massaquoi. According to tradition, one of their descendants was fond of sitting on a chair, an unusual act in those times, and became known as Kaka, after the Mende work ‘kpakai’ meaning chair.’ The Rogers family had retained the name of Kaka till the present day. John was one of two boys selected by King Mana Siaka of Gallinas, to whom he was related, to be educated in Freetown at the request of Governor Sir A.E. Kennedy (terms of office 1852-54, 1868-72).

Accordingly, in 1872 he went to Freetown and attended the C.M.S. Grammar School, where he was enrolled as John Rogers Mannah. While he was at the C.M.S. Grammar School, he became a monitor and later taught in the lower school. In 1886, he joined the customs department, but as there was no prospect of promotion he resigned after two and a half years and became assistant customs clerk for the firm of Pickering and Berthoud. He was promoted to customs clerk after two years, and eventually became an agent. In 1895 John returned home to the Gallinas after 23 years’ absence to find himself virtually a stranger, his parents and many relatives having died in his absence. He immediately went into business at Mano Salija at the mouth of the River Mano, trading mostly in ivory obtained from the interior.

With the proclamation of the Protectorate followed by the imposition of a house tax, there was general restlessness throughout the country. In February 1898, John was made aware of it while on a trading visit to collect ivory due to him from Koya and Tunka, a few days’ march roughly northeast of Mano Salija. He reported to the colonial authorities that a message had been circulated telling every male capable of handling a machete to be present at Bogboabu, the capital of Koya, because the district commissioner, Captain C.E. Carr, was going to be there to collect the tax. He then quietly returned to Mano Salija.

Business affairs took him to Freetown from which he returned in mid-March to find clear signs of general discontent and unrest throughout the country. At two meetings of all the Gallinas chiefs, John exhorted them not to fight, but he was taken by surprise by a sudden uprising at the end of April during which trading stations, colonial establishments and houses were attacked, and his own store was raided.  John joined other refugees including five Frontier Police and escaped to Liberia, where, after much trouble, he succeeded in getting a boat to Freetown. At an audience with Governor Sir Frederick Cardew, he volunteered to help the administration quell the resistance. Equipped with one rifle and accompanying 20 Frontier Police, he embarked for Cape Mount in Liberia. While he was there, he persuaded chiefs Gbessay Kai Luseni and Lamin Abdul Lahai of Juring to join him. But resistance in this area was bound to fade out before long. Thus when John crossed over with his ‘force,’ there was very little opposition. Before the end of the year, the administration had overcome the resistance and regained control.

In 1913, John Mannah-Kaka was elected paramount chief of the Kaka chiefdom. But in 1916 he was deposed, after being convicted and imprisoned for obtaining money under false pretences in the name of the colonial administration. He was later granted free pardon by Governor R. J. Wilkinson (term of office 1916-22), but by this time Momo Rogers had already been elected as his successor. Momo Rogers ruled over a discontented chiefdom until a crisis was reached in 1932, when he too was deposed. John Mannah-Kaka contested the chiefship against Momo Tibo Rogers, his uncle, though many years his junior. Rogers won the election but agreed to step down for Mannah-Kpaka on condition that he should be his successor.

Always a loyal supporter of the colonial administration, Mannah-Kaka was appointed in 1934 to serve on the Legislative Council under the provisions of the Slater constitution of 1924, which empowered the governor to appoint three paramount chiefs to represent Protectorate interests. He served on the council until 1939, and ruled successfully over his chiefdom until his death in 1945, when he was succeeded by Momo Tibo Rogers.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM