MADAM HUMONYA

Madam Humonya (ruled 1908-1918) was a despotic and unscrupulous paramount chief of the Nongowa chiefdom in the Kenema district, who held her position through the support of the colonial administration. She has been remembered as the worst chief in the history of the Nongowa chiefdom.

She succeeded her mother, Madam Matolo, wife of Faba of Dodo, the father of Nyagua of Panguma, one of the most powerful chiefs in the Sierra Leone hinterland. Madam Matolo was appointed paramount chief of Nongowa in 1898 after the upheavals of the Hut Tax War, when the administration was looking for people who had been their allies to replace rulers who had either been hanged for their part in the war, or who had escaped punishment and would not risk reclaiming their chiefships. This led to many women being put forward and accepted as paramount chiefs by the colonial authorities, of whom Madam Matolo was one.

As the threat of punishment receded, the men tried to Oust the women rulers or, if unsuccessful, disregarded their authority. In 1903, Governor Sir Charles Anthony King-Harman (term of office 1900-04) was obliged to present a brass staff to Madam Matolo expressing the hope that, with such a token of support from the government, she would find no further difficulty in enforcing her authority over her sub-chiefs and other subjects.

Senile and incapable, Madam Matolo maintained a precarious hold on the chiefship until her death in 1908, when her daughter Humonya was ‘appointed’ paramount chief in her place. She in her turn received special support from the administration which she misused to her own advantage, terriorising her subjects and soon becoming notorious for petty tyranny.

Because of her privileged position with the colonial administration, who treated her as “a sort of paramount chief over the other paramount chiefs of the district,” discontent remained bottled up for fear of the consequences of complaining against her. Astutely taking advantage of her relations with the governor in Freetown, Humonya was able to indulge her despotic behaviour and make extortionate demands on her people (vividly remembered by surviving elders) without fear of reprisals.

Matters changed when W.D. Bowden, an administrator of integrity within the colonial context, took over Kenema as district commissioner in 1917. He promptly recorded in the annual district report that “discontent which had been growing for a number of years… (had) found a voice.” With his intimate knowledge of local politics in the area, the longer he stayed, the more Madam Humonya’s position was threatened.

Well aware that Bowden would demand an inquiry into her conduct, Humonya forestalled him by complaining that the commissioner was hostile to her and was making it difficult to enforce her authority by encouraging intrigues against her. She managed to obtain an audience with Governor R.J. Wilkinson (term of office 1916-22), after which her attitude to Bowden changed, and he complained that she had become “defiant and openly rude.” Ironically, it was she who intrigued against Bowden, involving him in a confrontation with the governor. The situation became progressively more complex.

In 1917 two complaints against Bowden were forwarded to the governor who himself visited Kenema in November of that year, requesting Bowden to enquire into charges made by Humonya against six of the principal men in the chiefdom. Bowden recommended that two of the men be banished, a somewhat shocking outcome, since one of them was Humonya’s “paramour.”

The governor, influenced by Humonya, rejected the findings and held another investigation himself. The results were the same, but rather than confront Humonya, he summarily transferred Bowden to Ronietta district on the highly unreasonable grounds that the commissioner had denied responsibility for peace in the chiefdom, since the two men had not been banished according to his recommendation.

Even the governor’s findings, however, revealed that “for years past very serious abuses had been going on.” Humonya was found guilty firstly, of failing to appoint a speaker (deputy) and arbitrarily choosing two men as her principal counsellors; secondly, of appointing sub-chiefs for five sections of the chiefdom without the consent of the people; thirdly, of oppressing her subjects by excessive fines, forced labour, and misuse of the pillory.

It was decided, in respect of the three charges, that the people should choose a speaker, resulting in the election of Amara Jumu of Hanga and the banishment of the two unofficial counsellors; that they should choose their own sub-chiefs, and that excessive fines were to be abolished while all remaining fees and fines were to be recorded and receipts issued. Furthermore, no one was to be put in the stocks for more than seven days.

After the governor’s departure, there were fresh complaints to the new district commissioner, Lt. Col. H.G. Warren, expressing disapproval of Humonya’s 25 messengers and personal clerk. Warren let the people decide what action to take, and the messengers were dismissed. Humonya was allowed to retain the clerk but was obliged to pay his emoluments herself. In spite of a clear case for deposition proceedings to be taken against her, none were made, for while support from the administration was still forthcoming she could cling to her precarious throne.

In December 1918, the new speaker, Jumu, had a violent quarrel with Humonya. It was widely believed that if an election were allowed, Jumu would become paramount chief, but the governor was not in favour of his standing as a candidate. A charge of assault was brought against him and he was banished under suspicion of spearheading opposition to Humonya’s rule. A meeting of the tribal authority, however, voted for the resignation of Humonya from the chiefship. Normally under these circumstances, a paramount chief would have been deposed, banished and disqualified from recontesting. But when elections were held in August 1919 Humonya was allowed to re-contest while Amara Jumu was not. In the event she polled only 12 votes, being overwhelmingly defeated in favour of Boakei Kekura.

Nevertheless, the district commissioner, J. Carven, who conducted the election was of the opinion that Humonya, that over-ambitious lady, would attempt to stage a comeback in spite of the fact that the whole chiefdom is against her.” But that was in fact the end of her effective political career, and the final conclusion is that, as D. Simpson has put it, “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.”

ARTHUR ABRAHAM