Are the Monuments and Relics Commission and the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Capable of Identiying and Protecting Sierra Leone’s Historical Heritage ?
By Kortor Kamara, Special Correspondent, USA
The Monunents and Relics Commission, initially established by the colonial authorities in 1946, has as its core mandate “the preservation of ancient, historical, and natural monuments, relics and other objects of archaeological, ethnographical, historical or other scientific interest “.
Following independence in 1961, the 1946 Ordinance was codified into an Act in 1962. The Act was amended and “ethnographical article”, defined as “any remains of early European settlement of colonialism “.
Since it’s inception in 1946, the Monuments and Relics Commission have to date designated only 19 sites, as national monuments deserving of protection and preservation.
Of the 19 sites so designated, 15 of these national monuments are located in the Freetown peninsula and it’s environs.
This piece is designed to bring to the attention of the Monuments & Relics Commission that there is more to Sierra Leone history and culture than only the Freetown peninsula and environs.
Why does Sierra Leone have mostly all her national monuments and relics primarily located in the Freetown locality?
The answer to this question lies in the inordinate influence of colonial officials and the long term leadership of the Commission by Dr. Easmon, in the designation process, coupled with their Eurocentric outlook of monuments and relics deemed historical.
It is worth noting that of the 19 national monuments sites, only the below mentioned four sites ( 2 each in the Moyamba and Kono districts ) are located in the provinces. Of the 4 sites in the provinces 3 have direct European linkage, as follows: 1) The ruins of John Newton’s house and slave baracoons, designated as a national monument in 1949. 2) The Cleveland tombstone, located near Shenge, designated in 1950. 3) The grave of Captain Lendy, located in Kono district, designated in 1965.
The Earthworks and stockade at Masakpaidu in Kono district, an abandoned fortified village that existed prior to the arrival of Europeans in Sierra Leone, represents the only indigenous site, designated a national monument in 1949.
Despite several studies and recommendations, most notably the Consultation report by Professor Paul Basu dated 2016, titled “A Review of the Monuments and Relics Act & Recommendations for New Heritage Legislation for Sierra Leone”, the Monuments & Relics Commission and its supervising ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, have failed to identify, expand and preserve our nation’s historical and cultural heritage.
It is also worth noting that the last proclaimed national monument - the cave complex near Manjoru, in the Kpeje Bongre chiefdom, Kailahun district - where a large deposit of precolonial pottery was discovered, was proclaimed in 1965 but no public notice issued designating it as a national monument currently exists.
Our nation has a rich history with monuments and relics dotting, especially the former protectorate, which deserves professional identification, preservation and protections. The history of precolonial Gallinas kingdom, the upper Mende civilization, the Kissi, the Koya Temne, Limba confederacy, to mention just a few, all deserve a reexamination of historical sites, relics and monuments, for inclusion in to an expanded national historical monuments register.
The fact that the earliest form of indigenous native art from Sierra Leone, the Nomoli figurines, found among the Mende and Kissi peoples and the Massaquoi Crown of the Gallinas kingdom, the slave barracoons of Dumbocorro, the fort ruins of Spanish trader Pedro Blanco, Lomboko, the main slaving center in the Gallinas, the historical towns of Bandasuma and Gendema, have to date not been listed as national monuments and relics, to name just a few known examples, requires proactivity by the Monuments and Relics Commission.
SOME POSITIVE MEASURES:
While acknowledging positive efforts being made at inclusion of several of the Freetown and environs- based sites on the World Monuments Funds Watch List of the 100 most endangered heritage sites worldwide in 2008, and the inclusion of Bunce Island to the listing again in 2016; the proclamation of 3 additional new monuments by the erstwhile Chairman of the MRC, Isatu Smith; coupled with the recent 2022 submission of the Gola-Tiwai complex for designation as a World Heritage Centre, much still needs to be done to identify, protect and preserve our national heritage.
Moreover, the school heritage clubs project, established in schools by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs is very laudable and a step in the right direction. However, an identification of new monuments and relics, especially in the provinces, constituting over 80 percent of the nation’s land mass and majority of its population, with unparalleled cultural diversity, predating the colonial experience must be pursued to highlight and maintain our national history, monuments and culture.
THE FREETOWN “BODE HOSE“ NEEDS PRESERVATION
For purposes of this article, the focus on preservation of the wooden houses in the Freetown colony is mostly directed at the bungalows in the Hill Station, whose construction and history are totally separate and distinct from the board houses in downtown Freetown and environs. Neither of these historical wooden structures have any protections and are not listed in the register of monuments and relics. These historical buildings deserve preservation, not only for their unique colonial style architecture, but more so as “remains of early European settlement of colonization “, as defined in the 1962 Monuments and Relics Act.
WHY THE COLONIAL ERA BUNGALOWS DESERVE PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION BY THE MONUMENTS AND RELICS COMMISSION?
To better understand the need for designation and preservation of these unique styled and constructed colonial-era bungalows at Hill Station, it is worth a short refresher history on why the enclave was initially established and settled by British colonial officials in 1902.
The colony of Sierra Leone had for long being known as the “The Whitemans Grave”, due to the high mortality among Europeans, as a result of infestation from malaria, so endemic in Freetown.
An 1899 medical discovery that the mosquito insect was the vector causing malaria was first conducted by the 1902 Nobel prize winner in medicine, Dr. Ronald Ross in Freetown. In August and September 1899, Dr. Ross embarked on a sanitation experiment and confirmed the causal relationship between the anopheles mosquito bite and malaria.
The discovery that malaria was caused by mosquito bites resulted in the decision by the colonial authorities, that to mitigate the debilitating high mortality rates, all Europeans be relocated from Freetown to Hill Station, which was deemed a healthier alternate settlement, with little or no mosquitoes in the hills above the colony.
Thus started the policy of residential segregation between whites and the creoles and other Africans in the colony. All Africans, save for the single servant per bungalow during the day, while the Europeans were at work in Freetown and especially children were banned from the enclave. To the Europeans, it became an existential necessity to physically separate themselves from the Africans in Freetown.
As an exclusive Whites only preserve , the establishment of the enclave with its segregated homes, clubs, hospital and other recreational facilities, symbolized the divide and apartheid type bantustanization and residential segregation, spanning the period from 1902 to the period just prior to independence in 1961, when African civil servants were allowed residency in Hill Station. The colonial Governor was housed at the Governor’s Lodge, which is today the Presidential Lodge.
Construction on some of these 120-year old residential bungalows was started in 1902 and completed in 1904. Construction materials were mostly prefabricated and shipped from the Harrod’s department stores in England. The construction of the Hill Station railway line in 1903, greatly facilitated the flight of Europeans from Freetown to the Hill Station enclave.
While over the decades since independence, some of these colonial bungalows have dilapidated due to poor maintenance and encroachments, it is worth drawing the attention of the Monuments and Relics Commission and related ministries and agencies to the urgent need to designate the remaining entire Hill Station colonial enclave and buildings as historical national monuments.
With such a designation, it is hoped these areas spanning from the hill station colonial settlement to the cannons of slave trading and wars, the Gallinas Crown, the fort ruins of the Spanish slaver Pedro Blanco, the grave sites of King Siaka in Dumangbe, Queen Nyarroh in Bandasuma and several other historical relevant monuments and relics can be preserved for generations of Sierra Leoneans.
Comments