Last Word Those Who Call You Chief Can Also Call You Thief The young man, Musa Koroma, stood before Paramount Chief Bai Mankee without demonstrating any fear that he was in serious trouble as the chief’s messengers had arrested him for what was perceived as insubornation. Paramount Chief Bai Mankee, now furious, stood up and fumed, “you son of a goat, you have the temerity to tell the people of Rokontha Chiefdom that I am a senseless coward who cannot rule this country?” The young man, Musa replied, “Chief, I have been misquoted. I did not describe you a coward. I merely told my friends that you ought to have done something to help your brother in neighbouringMathulla whose chiefdom has been invaded and destroyed by marauders. We have our hunters who can go over to Mathulla and help the fighters of that chiefdom.” Paramount Chief Bai Mankee roared in laughter, “you want me to send my hunters to fight for the hopeless chief of Mathulla? I assure you, no marauder will enter my chiefdom, and Rokontha will always remain safe.” The chief, dressed in his ex-military attire and displaying the medals he won in the Burma campaign shouted. “I have just locked up a young man for even imagining that the violence that is now taking place at Mathulla will spread to our chiefdom. I assure you that I am an –ex-service man, I know what warfare is all about, and no marauders will enter our soil. The foolish chief of Mathulla is not even a proper chief, he imposed himself on the people.” Pa SullayKoroma, one of the elders stood and said, “Chief, I am personally satisfied with your enthusiasm, but there are always reasons for civil unrest, and the people of Mathulla are so close to us that we should not ignore what is happening there.” Paramount Chief Bai Mankee said, “I agree with you Pa Sulay, but why don’t you also think that the stupid Paramount Chief Lamina of Mathulla is himself the problem?” The crowd dispersed and everybody went home. When news filtered into Rokontha that the marauders had almost taken over Mathulla Chiefdom, Paramount Chief Mankee did nothing to rescue his own chiefdom, instead he spent most of the time discussing how wicked and useless Paramount Chief Lamina was. The war heated to the point that Paramount Chief Lamina of Mathulla disappeared from the public, went into an unknown hiding place. Paramount Chief Bai Mankee roared in laughter, “look at that coward, he has run away from his own people.” Meanwhile the people of Rokontha remained tense, and as they rightly suspected, some of the marauders had started crossing that border from Mathulla Chiefdom to Rokontha Chiefdom. When Paramount Chief Bai Mankee was told by an elderly lady, Mammy Yeanoh that she actually saw the armed marauders, Chief Bai Mankee said, “that cannot be true, for if one marauder crosses from Mathulla to Rokontha, I will get my hunters to invade Mathulla and take over Mathulla and make it part of our chiefdom, I am not like that coward Chief Lamina.” More and more marauders started to penetrate into Rokontha, killing innocent citizens and looting the property of the people. One morning, Paramount Chief Bai Mankee woke up to discover that Rokontha town, the chiefdom headquarters, was fearfully overcrowded by people from the interior, people who had fled from the atrocities of the marauders. Paramount Chief Bai Mankee instructed them to go to the interior and fight the advancing marauders. The hunters complained that their guns were too old for any kind of warfare, but the chief shouted, “go and try, you fools. Go and fight.” The hunters went and did their best, but the marauders were too armed to be easily defeated. The hunters sent message to the Chief that more food was needed and that they were running out of cartridge. Paramount Chief Bai Mankee convened a meeting of elders and fumed, “these hunters think that they have found an opportunity to make money, they keep on sending for rice, more cartridges and money even when they have not succeeded in killing one marauder.” Pa SullayKoroma, one of the elders advised, “we should provide the hunters what they demand, already the people are getting angry, for it is our business to protect our citizenry.” When news arrived that Chief Lamina of Mathulla was no longer anywhere to be seen, Chief Bai Mankee said, “good , now the marauder will seize Mathulla and they will get off our backs But the disappearance of Chief Lamina of Mathulla did not stop the warning activities of the marauders in Rokontha. The people of Rokontha had totally lost confidence in the chief and his elders, and replaced them with experienced advisers. One morning, Paramount Chief Bai Mankee dressed in his military uniform , carried a gun to impress in his people that he was a warrior, who would not be intimidated, saw a large crowd of angry hunters shouting all over his compound. The angry hunter rushed and opened the prison cells and released Musa Koroma. The Chief shouted. “You, stupid people, if you do not go back to the fighting field I will get all you arrested.” The hunters advanced towards the chief’s house. The chief now suspecting that the hunters had become uncontrollable feared for his life and sprinted rapidly towards the high wall firmly clutching his wife’s hand and scaled the wall with his wife, MabintySesay. Bai Mankee and his wife boarded a canoe and paddled rapidly to the safety of Rogborehchiefdom where he sought sanctuary. With the departure of Chief Bai Mankee, the young man, Musa Koroma, joined the hunters. The people came to see what was happening, until the crowd burst into jubilation. It also became an occasion of setting old scores. The chief’s advisers who were not lucky to escape were beaten up and humiliated by the hunters. The hunters actually installed one of their members as paramount chief, a development that puzzled District Commissioner, Ian Macdonald. Ian Macdonald wrote letters to the provincial headquarters, and to the office of the colonial secretary. When the reply from Freetown arrived, District Commissioner Ian Macdonald was advised to recongnise the hunter-chief as a regent chief, until such time when he would be replaced by a legitimate paramount chief. The new Paramount Chief, a young hunter spent the whole day heaping insults on the now fugitive, Chief Bai Mankee as the hunters chased women all over the place and amassing wealth, without making much efforts to stop the fighting. The hunter became a law unto themselves, until the District Commissioner told the hunter-chief Dustan Karimu that the big men in Freetown and London now insisted that the hunters should go back to their hunting business to allow a new legitimate chief to be elected by the people. The same crowd that welcome the hunters came out in large numbers demanding that they now wanted an elected paramount chief, “they are all thieves, let them get out.” The hunters themselves panicked and the fighting within their ranks caused the hunter-chief, Dustan Karimu to flee. A new Paramount Chief was elected by the people after the hunter had fled, but some of them later returned, including the hunter-in-chief, Dustan Karimu, but the people no longer regarded him with an iota of respect. Like Paramount Chief Bai Mankee, the hunter-chief Dustan Karimu became laughing stock in Rokontha, as he was seen more as a thief than a former chief. Mammy Yeanoh, the lady whose advice Chief Bai Mankee had rejected said “never trust humanity, “the same people who call you chief can also call you thief”.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:51:49 +0000
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