The Ndorgboryosoi (or Ronso)
Quite a lot has been said and written about the Ndorgboryosoi since the last Pujehun Parliamentary bye election. On another occasion and in one of his mischievous articles, Paul Kamara mentioned it in his childish but sometimes reckless ‘Mamie Salone en pikin’ column of the for-di-people newspaper. In Mende mythology, and I am sure in Temne as well, the Ndorgboryosoi is a spiritual Robin Hood that roams the country side and sometimes ventures into townships. It is usually on the side of the oppressed or weak, meting out retributive justice as the occasion may demand. The Ndorgboryosoi does not suffer fools gladly often revealing ones lack of common sense and sometimes accompanying it with a slap or two. For example a man was waiting under a tree with a huge banana leaf for the rain to cease when Blama, or Brima; (the Mende can’t pronounce the letter R, it is always L just as their Temne and Limba cousins do not pronounce J and F which are pronounced as Y and H respectively. Check that with the institute of Sierra Leone languages. Blama is synonymous with Ndorgboryosoi. Blama then invited the man to cover his head with the banana leaf and step out in the rain. To his amazement and delight the rain never reached him and so Brima delivered a couple slaps for his lack of common sense and sent him on his way.
The 1982 Parliamentary elections which were conducted under the ONE PARTY constitution were marked by a degree of violence that had never been experienced in the political history of Sierra Leone. It was APC versus APC; the worst areas were Thaimu Bangura’s Sanda Teneran constituency, Bala Kamara’s Koinadugu north-east, Musa Komeh’s Kholifa constituency and Harry Williams Kagboro constituency. The elections in Thaimu’s and Bala’s constituencies were cancelled; no elections were held there for the life of that Parliament. In the Pujehun south constituency the incumbent veteran and grass root politician Manna Kpaka was being challenged by Solomon Demby with resources and moral and physical support from Francis Minah who was well placed in the government. It was obvious that Mana Kpaka was the peoples’ man; the campaign was marred by violence and naked fraud. Mana Kpaka took out an election petition which he was certain to win. In the meantime his supporters who were in the majority were being intimidated and harassed to the point that they could take no more.
By a strange coincidence the chiefdoms of Makpele and Sorogbeima which form today’s constituency 91 were the same which formed the then Kenema south in 1982. Ginjama town was a strong Mana Kpaka base; by coincidence the father of the current APC candidate Sylvester Massaquoi I was the first fatal casualty of the armed forces that went to the area. They were the notorious Internal Security Unit or ISU which owed allegiance directly to Stevens and not necessarily through the Commissioner of Police as today’s IG was called. Their mission was to subdue and where necessary arrest any ring leaders; and their slogan was “hahou, hahou†meaning capture them. That they could not say “ahou, ahou†speaks volumes about their ethnicity. From hahou hahou, they changed to “kapu, Kapu†meaning loot and cart away. That is when the Ndorgboryosoi materialized from apparently nowhere. Every time a truck load of ISU was sighted from miles afar, the Ndorgboryosoi would sound the Kelei, a musical instrument which creates the rhythm in Mende musical groups.
On their arrival the first truck its passengers simply disappeared but the driver and his empty truck were set free. A second truck load suffered the same fate. What baffled the authorities was how the people knew that the troops were on their way which they never found out. In the meantime a meeting was being set up between Solomon Demby and Kemokai a very influential community leader within the Mana Kpaka group to find a way out of the impasse. But even as that was going on there was a plan to exterminate Kemokai and four other leaders. The Ndorgboryosoi had by then delivered Mana Kpaka to the safety of Kenema Town. Although Kemokai had been alerted that he was on the hit list he insisted on leading the negotiating team. He always carried a walking stick and it was with it that he received a fatal blow and his body dumped in a swamp. The people went mad. But like Bai Bureh, Nyagua Quee of the 1898 rebellion the superior fire power and the strength of the ISU and the military subdued them. The casualty was high as was the number of people arrested and taken down to Freetown was quite high. Many died in the Pademba road prison but one of the leaders was kept their and only released when the NPRC overthrew the government of President Joseph Saidu Momoh. Those keep shouting about the Ndorgboryosoi could not have any idea what provoked the Ndorgboryosoi or that it never initiates violence but possesses the capacity to resist. In Makpele and Sorogbeima it was a good thing that its patience was not put to the test.
Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
© 2010, https:. All rights reserved.
