MENDEGLA

Mendegla of Joru (?-1890) was one of the most powerful Mende warriors of the later 19th century. Using his immense influence over other rulers, he managed to bring about the pacification of the Gallinas in the extreme south of Sierra Leone, an area that was in turmoil through wars of succession. Along with Kai Londo , he was held in the highest respect by the colonial government for his remarkable abilities as a chief.

Mendegla’s state, with its capital at Joru, (on the Moa River, in what is now the Pujehun district of southern Sierra Leone), spread from the Barri country in a northeasterly direction till it bordered on Kai Londo’s state of Luawa. Not much is known about his early career, but throughout the 1880s he was well known in official circles. “The names of Mendingrah and Kai Londo are passwords…in the countries through which I have traveled,” reported T.J. Aildridge, traveling commissioner, in 1890, “and from what I have seen myself of the way they govern the extensive territories under their jurisdiction – I gladly endorse the high opinions which I am convinced the masses generally entertain towards these chieftains.”

During the 1880s the Gallinas had become a hotbed of disturbance. Trouble started around 1872 when King Mana Siaka was succeeded by his blind, senile, drunken brother, Jaya. This opened the way for many aspiring chiefs to aim at the acquisition of the imperial honour of the Massaquoi, the ruling Gallinas family, to which Mana Siaka and Jaya belonged.

Rivalries in attempts to succeed to the authority of the Massaquoi led to frequent wars, which by 1885 had become a struggle between parties backing two clear contestants – Fawundu of the Lower Gallinas, and Boakei Gomma, a member of one of the ruling houses, who was supported by the upper chiefs and Mendegla. Boakei Gomma’s rivals hired Ndawa, a famous professional warrior, who attacked Mendegla. He was repulsed but returned again and was killed at Dama, a chiefdom in Kenema district, by Mendegla’s warriors. Meanwhile, the British had been making vain attempts to keep the peace in the Gallinas.

T.J. Alldridge, who had been appointed traveling commissioner in 1889 to make treaties, was sent to meet Mendela at Bandasuma on the Moa River to bring an end to hostilities through a treaty. But before this meeting, Mendegla, whose influence over rulers as far south as the Gallinas was very powerful, had initiated a special “Peace Poro” to end the Gallinas wars. He had sent this “Peace Poro” over an area of about a hundred miles in radius, bearing in mind that the professionals in this war were always hired from the interior. When Alldridge arrived at Bandasuma “all of the chiefs whom I met there had already accepted the ‘porroh’ which so far as I could learn, had reference to a permanent peace being maintained in the country.” Until the colonial takeover in 1896, when the Protectorate was proclaimed, the Gallinas troubles had abated. At that same meeting in Bandasuma, Mendegla signed a treaty of friendship with Alldridge, who signed further treaties with some of Mendegla’s subordinate chiefs and then moved on inland to establish still more alliances.

Exactly six months after he had signed the treaty, Mendela died. Various districts were moved to fight, firstly over the burial place of the deceased ruler, and then over the distribution of his property, but the Frontier Police intervened to prevent disturbances. Alldridge took part in the “coronation ceremonies” of Mendegla’s successor, Gbatekaka, the most powerful man in the state. And from Alldridge comes the highest tribute to Mendegla: “That Chief was a magnificent man, about six feet two in height and of unusual intelligence, a great warrior and beloved by the people.” Ironically, by pacifying the Gallinas, Mendela had unwittingly prepared the way for the imposition of colonialism.

ARTHUR ABRAHAM