african entrepreneurship

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A F R I C A NENT R EP R ENEU R S H I PMUSLIM FULA MERCHANTS IN SIERRA LEONE

Alusine Jalloh


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African Entrepreneurship


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African

Entrepreneurship

M U S L I M F U L A M E R C H A N T S

I N S I E R R A L E O N E

Alusine Jalloh

Ohio University Center for International StudiesMonographs in International Studies

Africa Series No. 71

Athens


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1999 by theCenter for International Studies

Ohio UniversityPrinted in the United States of America

All rights reserved

The books in the Center for International Studies Monograph Seriesare printed on acid-free paper !

03 02 01 00 99 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jalloh, Alusine, 1963African entrepreneurship : Muslim Fula merchants in Sierra Leone /

Alusine Jalloh.p. cm. (Monographs in international studies. Africa

series ; no. 71)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-89680-207-8 (pbk.)1. MerchantsSierra LeoneFreetown. 2. Fula (African people)

Sierra LeoneFreetown. 3. IslamEconomic aspectsSierra LeoneFreetown. 4. EntrepreneurshipSierra LeoneFreetown. I. Title.II. Series.HF3933.Z9F734 1999 99-27144380.109664dc21 CIP


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To my twin brother Alhassan Jalloh


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vii

Contents

List of Illustrations, ix

List of Tables, xi

Acknowledgments, xiii

Introduction,xix

List of Abbreviations, xxvii

A Note on Currency, xxix

1. The Fula Trading Population, 1

2. The Livestock Trade, 31

3. The Merchandise Trade, 76

4. The Motor Transport Business, 113

5. Islamic Activities, 151

6

. Politics,188

Conclusions, 219

Notes, 232

Glossary, 254

List of Interviews, 257

Bibliography, 260

Index, 277


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ix

Illustrations

Figures

1.1 Alhaji Momodu Allie (Fula chief and businessman), 5

1.2 Almamy Oumarou Jalloh-Jamburia

(Fula chief and businessman), 6

2.1 Alhaji Momodu Bah (Fula chief and businessman), 58

2

.2

Alhaji Ibrahima Allie (son of AlhajiMomodu Allie and businessman), 60

2.3 Alhaji Baba Allie (son of Alhaji

Momodu Allie and businessman), 61

3.1 Alhaji Abass Allie (son of Alhaji

Momodu Allie and businessman), 89

3.2 Fula commercial property in Freetown, 109

4.1 Agibu Jalloh (Fula businessman), 131

4.2 Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Barrie (Fula businessman), 135

5.1 Fula mosque in Freetown, 154

5.2 Alhaji Seray Bah (Fula imam), 155


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6.1 Alhaji Lamrana Bah (early Fuuta

Jalon Fula settler in Freetown), 200

6.2 Alhaji A. B. Tejan-Jalloh (Fula

politician and businessman), 204

Maps

1. Sierra LeoneGuinea region, xv

2. Sierra Leone, xvi

3. Greater Freetown, 1978, xvii

x / Illustrations


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xi

Tables

2.1. Estimated Trade Cattle Crossing

from Guinea into Sierra Leone, 19611978, 36

2.2 Estimated Cattle Population in

Sierra Leone, 19611978, 39

2.3 Estimated Cattle Raised in

Sierra Leone, 19611978, 40

2.4 Estimated Cattle Slaughtered

in Freetown, 19611978, 53

2.5 Estimated Government Meat Contract

of Alhaji Momodu Bah, 19641978, 65

4.1 Estimated Taxis Owned and Operatedby Fula Merchants in Freetown, 19611978, 121

4.2 Estimated Lorries Owned by Fula

Merchants in Freetown, 19611978, 122

4.3 Estimated Poda-Podas (Light Vans) Owned

by Fula Merchants in Freetown, 19611978, 123


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xiii

Acknowledgments

This book is the result of more than a decade of research on

Sierra Leone. I am grateful to the Social Science Research

Council (USA) for a predissertation fellowship to conduct

fieldwork in Sierra Leone in 1990. I am also grateful to the

Department of History at Howard University for a Summer

Research Grant that enabled me to conduct extensive field-

work in Sierra Leone and the Republic of Guinea in 1992.

For help in Sierra Leone, I would like to thank my parents

Alhaji Malal Jalloh and Adama Jalloh, Alhaji Baba Allie, Alhaji

A. B. Tejan-Jalloh, Alhaji M. Seray-Wurie, Alhaji Musa Jalloh,

Alhaji Chernor Marju, Alhaji Ali Jalloh, Alpha Amadu Bah,

Salieu A. Camba, Mohammed Cham, Rashid Jalloh-Jamburia,

Mrs. Binta Allie, Agibu Jalloh, Kadijatu Jalloh, Abubakr Jalloh,

and Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim I. Tejan-Jalloh, Abdul Mansaray,

Sheikh Allie, Sheikh Mohamed Barrie, and Mohamed Lam-

rana Bah. They acted at various times as informants and

friends.

For advice and help at various stages of writing, I gratefully

acknowledge the assistance of Aziz A. Batran, Chernor M.

Jalloh, Sulayman S. Nyang, Linda M. Heywood, Sylvia O.

Macauley, and Ijatu Barrie of Howard University; Professor

Emeritus Christopher Fyfe of Edinburgh University; Allen M.

Howard of Rutgers University; Stephen E. Maizlish of the

University of Texas at Arlington (UTA); David E. Skinner of


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Santa Clara University; Mohamed B. Sillah of Hampton Uni-

versity; C. Magbaily Fyle of Ohio State University; M. Alpha

Bah of the College of Charleston; Ibrahim Kargbo of Coppin

State College; Abdul K. Bangura of Bowie State University;

and Vincent B. Thompson of Connecticut College. I am also

grateful to Adesina During of UTA for helping me prepare the

manuscript for publication.

My largest debt is to my twin brother Alhassan Jalloh in

Sierra Leone, to whom I have dedicated this book. He was a

constant source of friendship and encouragement. He played a

vital role in helping collect the data on the Fula merchants.

I apologize to all those whom I have not mentioned by name,

but whose assistance, encouragement, and kindness helped to

make this book possible.

xiv / Acknowledgments


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0 30

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RUTGERS CARTOGRAPHY 1999

Moyamba

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GUINEA GUINEA

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Provincial boundaryDistrict boundaryProvincial headquartersDistrict headquartersMain paved roadsGovernment railway

WESTERNAREA

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Map 1. Sierra LeoneGuinea region


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Map 2. Sierra Leone

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

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11

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1 Bafodia

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3 Bumban

4 Conakry5 Dalaba

6 Dinguiraye

7 Falaba

8 Farana

9 Forodugu

10 Freetown

11 Furikaria

23 Lab

24 Madina

25 Madina Oula

26 Magbeli27 Mamou

28 Mange

29 Melikuri

30 Moyamba

31 Musaia

32 Poredaka

33 Port Loko

12 Gbinti

13 Kabala

14 Kailahun

15 Kamabai16 Kamakwie

17 Kambia

18 Kankan

19 Karina

20 Kindia

21 Kouroussa

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34 Pujehun

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Rutgers Cartography 1999

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LowerAllen Town

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GREATER

FREETOWN

1978

Greater FreetownMunicipality

Central BusinessDistrict

PENINSULA

FOREST

RESERVE

SettlementsRoads

Map 3. Greater Freetown, 1978


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among the Fula merchants further led me to consult the his-

torical literature on Sierra Leone, which offers no book-length

study on the various commercial activities of the Fula in Sierra

Leone. Despite the importance of the Fula in the Sierra Leon-

ean economy, few studies of any kind have been done on them.6

The central question of the present study is how and why

Muslim Fula surmounted their economic, political, and social

marginalization in Christian-Kriodominated Freetown to

become successful merchants. The study examines wholesale

and retail Fula businesses, within which categories the scale of

trade ranged from large to small. Among Fula retailers, for

example, there were hawkers, market-stall owners, owners of

shops both large and small, and owners of multiple shops. The

present study, however, focuses on Fula wholesalers and large-

scale retailers.

In1990 and1992 I conducted extensive fieldwork in Sierra

Leone, Guinea, and Britain. I examined a large body of records

in the British and Sierra Leonean archives. Moreover, I stud-

ied assorted government documents and the unpublished busi-

ness records and private papers of Fula merchants in Sierra

Leone.

I also collected oral data from cross-ethnic informants in

Sierra Leone. Most of them had firsthand knowledge of the

history presented here; in fact, some of them had participated

in the historical events I investigated. I complemented these

interviews with some that I conducted in the United States

among the Sierra Leoneanborn offspring of the Fula mer-

chants. The interviews, which I conducted in Krio and Pulaar,

were recorded on cassette tapes, copies of which will be de-

posited at the Sierra Leone Collection, Fourah Bay College,

University of Sierra Leone, in Freetown.

This study of the Fula mercantile population in Freetown is

the result of this research. It focuses on the period between

1961 and 1978. The year 1961 marks the beginning of the

xx / Introduction


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This book is also the first in-depth study of the role of Islam

in Fula business thinking, commercial organizations, and intra-

ethnic trading relations in Sierra Leone. It examines how

Islam influenced interaction between Fula merchants and fel-

low Muslim traders from different ethnic groups, on the one

hand, and between Fula traders and non-Muslim merchants,

on the other. In addition, this book examines the impact of

Islam on the social life of Fula traders. Bahs study helps read-

ers understand how Islam helped to shape the commercial and

social behavior of the Fula. Although the interdisciplinary

study on the Fula resulting from the Fifteenth International

African Seminar held at Ahmadu Bello University in 1979

does not cover Sierra Leone, it contains valuable comparative

information on the impact of Islam on Fula elsewhere in West

Africa.9

The present study departs from the prevailing scholarship

on the business history of Africa, such as the works by A. G.

Hopkins, by arguing that Fula mercantile concerns in Sierra

Leone were independently owned private enterprises, not ap-

pendages of Western expatriate commerce.10 In addition, the

study demonstrates that Fula private enterprise was not de-

pendent on state resources, as was the case with many African

businesses in the postindependence period, as documented in

several studies.11

From a comparative standpoint, the present study comple-

ments a number of good interdisciplinary studies on trading di-

asporas in West Africa. By focusing on the Fula in Sierra Leone,

this book broadens the geographic focus of these diaspora-

oriented studies and expands appreciation of the internal

movement of Africans and the subsequent creation of ethnic

minority communities on the continent. In contrast to other

West African countries like Nigeria and Ghana, Sierra Leone

has received little attention in the scholarly writings on trad-

ing diasporas, primarily due to the countrys relatively small

xxii / Introduction


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size. Moreover, this work explores issues of comparative im-

portance in diaspora studies, such as the social and political

relationships between immigrant communities and host soci-

eties, the relationship between immigrants and their home-

lands, and the intergenerational relations within immigrant

communities.12

Chapter1 deals with the Fula merchant population in Free-

town. It traces the migration of the Fula from different coun-

tries in West Africa to Freetown and the internal migration of

the Fula from the Sierra Leonean interior to Freetown over a

period of three centuries. Moreover, it explains why the Fula

went to Freetown, as well as the structure and evolution of

their community in the city. The remainder of the first chapter

deals with Fula merchants as a social group. In addition to

discussions of the institutions of marriage and family, social

mobility in the Fula mercantile community is examined. Fur-

thermore, an attempt is made to situate the Fula in the social

hierarchy of the multiethnic Freetown society in which they

undertook their commercial activities.

Chapter 2 explores the role of the Fula in the livestock

trade that connected Freetown with the provinces and neigh-

boring Guinea. A central component of this trade was the

butchering business, characterized by cross-ethnic competi-

tion and intraethnic Fula competition. An attempt is made to

establish the importance of Fula kinship networks in the live-

stock trade from both supply and marketing standpoints.

Important Fula families in the cattle trade and butchering busi-

ness are also identified and discussed to illustrate Fula com-

mercial organization, success, and shortcomings. Moreover, the

property investments of Fula cattle traders and butchers are

documented.

Chapter 3 describes the various activities of the Fula in the

merchandise trade, which included provisions, textiles, and pro-

duce. It also traces the evolution and importance of the role of

Introduction / xxiii


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the Fula as urban shopkeepers in the Freetown economy. The

hierarchical organization of the Freetown merchandise trade

as well as its transethnic competitive component are also ex-

amined. Furthermore, Fula methods of capital accumulation,

such as domestic service, hawking, the diamond business, and

reliance on family members and kinship groups for cash or

credit, are documented. This chapter also discusses the differ-

ent types of enterprises in which Fula traders invested their

profits, which included mostly urban properties.

Chapter 4 explores the role of Fula merchants in the motor

transport business of Freetown, which was one of the fastest

growing sectors of the citys economy. The analysis explores

the issues of capital accumulation, business management, types

of investments, the role of kinship networks in the acquisition

and operation of motor vehicles, and the contradictions be-

tween Fula Islamic faith and business practices. The central

role of the diamond trade as a source of capital to the Fula in

the motor transport business is discussed in detail. The Free-

town motor transport business was a major investment vehi-

cle of Fula merchants in various areas of the Sierra Leonean

economy. Studies by N. A. Cox-George and Kelfala M. Kallon

provide a useful framework for understanding the various as-

pects of entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone, including the issues

of capital accumulation and business management.13

Chapter 5 deals with the Islamic activities of Fula mer-

chants in Freetown. It identifies and discusses the mechanisms

through which the Fula contributed to the diffusion of Islam.

Primary attention is given to the role of Fula merchants in es-

tablishing Islamic educational institutions for propagating the

Muslim faith and promoting Islamic scholarship. The role of

Fula family households in the socialization of children in Is-

lamic values in a predominantly Western, Christian environ-

ment is also discussed. In addition, the impact of the Islamic

xxiv / Introduction


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social obligations of Fula traders on their mercantile activities

is investigated.

Chapter 5 makes a significant contribution to the limited

literature on Muslims in postindependence Sierra Leone. Until

now, the bulk of these writings have dealt with the precolonial

and colonial periods. Since independence, Muslims, who now

constitute more than half of the 4.5 million people of Sierra

Leone, have continued to play important roles in shaping the

religious and cultural landscape of the country. The historical

and contemporary importance of Muslims warrants more

studies than are presently available.14

Chapter 6 looks at the role of Fula merchants in politics on

two levels: chieftaincy and national affairs. Beginning with an

examination of the evolution of Fula chieftaincy from the colo-

nial era to the postcolonial period, this chapter attempts to

document the importance of mercantile wealth and networks

in the election of Fula chiefs in Freetown. The response of the

government during the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP)

and All Peoples Congress (APC) rule to Fula chieftaincy pol-

itics and the role of the Fula chief in national politics are fur-

ther examined.

Moreover, chapter 6 deals with the connection between

Fula merchants and national politics during the SLPP and

APC eras. It discusses the emergence of Fula merchants as an

interest group and how they were constrained or coopted into

the postcolonial state during the reign of the SLPP and APC

governments. In addition, the chapter treats in detail the im-

pact of politics in Guinea and the political cooperation be-

tween President Skou Tour of Guinea and President Siaka

Stevens of Sierra Leone on the Fula immigrant mercantile

community in Freetown between 1968, when the APC first

came to power in Sierra Leone, and 1978.

Introduction / xxv


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xxvii

Abbreviations

APC All Peoples Congress

CAST Consolidated African Selection Trust

CBD Central Business District

CFAO Compagnie Franaise de lAfrique Occidentale

CMS Church Missionary SocietyCSO Colonial Secretarys Office

DELCO Sierra Leone Development Company

FBC Fourah Bay College

FPU Fula Progressive Union

FS Financial Secretary

FYO Fula Youth Organization

GBO G. B. Ollivant and CompanyGDO Government Diamond Office

MIA Ministry of Interior Archives

MIAD Ministry of Internal Affairs and Development

MMTC Milton Margai Teachers College

NDMC National Diamond Mining Corporation

NIC National Interim Council

NRC National Reformation CouncilOAU Organization of African Unity

PDG Parti Dmocratique de Guine


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PWD Public Works Department

PZ Paterson, Zochonis and Company

SCOA Socit Commerciale de lOuest Africain

SIC Supreme Islamic Council

SLA Sierra Leone Archives

SLGR Sierra Leone Government Railway

SLPMB Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board

SLPP Sierra Leone Peoples Party

SLST Sierra Leone Selection Trust

UAC United Africa Company

xxviii / Abbreviations


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A Note on Currency

Until 1964 Sierra Leone used the British system of pounds,

shillings, and pence ( s d), in which 1 equaled 20 shillings

and one shilling equaled 12 pence. In 1964 the Sierra Leone

government introduced the leone (Le) as the national cur-

rency. Prior to 1978, when Sierra Leone delinked its currency

from the British pound, the country maintained a fixed ex-

change rate with the pound (Le2 = 1). From 1964 to 1978

the official exchange rate of the leone to the United States dol-

lar fluctuated (Le1 = $1.141.40).

xxix


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1

The Fula Trading Population

Preindependence Fula Migration and Settlement

The Fula trading population in postcolonial Freetown, which

was a component of a larger multiethnic merchant class in the

city, was comprised of immigrants and their Sierra Leonean

born offspring.1 The Fula presence in this area dates back to

the seventeenth century, when the Fula traveled to the coastal

peninsula on which Freetown was later built to trade slaves,

gold, cattle, and cloth with the Portuguese and coastal ethnic

groups like the Temne.2 But the Fula did not establish a per-

manent settlement. Instead they returned with European goods

along the long-distance trade routes that originated primarily

in Fuuta Jalon in French Guinea (now Republic of Guinea).3

With the establishment of a settlement of freed slaves on the

peninsula in 1787, Fula trade with this area expanded greatly.

The settlement was originally named Province of Freedom

and then renamed Freetown in 1791 by the Sierra Leone Com-

pany after the original settlement was destroyed by the Temne

residents. The Fula success was due to their initiative and the

1


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efforts of the Sierra Leone Company, which was comprised of

English businessmen and philanthropists like Granville Sharp.

The company sent several trade delegations to Timbo, the cap-

ital of Fuuta Jalon, to meet with the almamy.4 In 1794, for ex-

ample, James Watt and Thomas Winterbottom left Freetown

for Timbo, where they stayed for two weeks of consultations.

They returned to the colony with news that the almamy had

agreed to expand trade with Freetown.5

When the British government declared a crown colony in

Freetown in 1808, the authorities recognized the importance

of the Fula caravan trade and continued earlier efforts to at-

tract the Fula by sending trade delegations to the almamy of

Fuuta Jalon. In 1819, as Freetown became a major trading

center in West Africa, the Fula established a permanent settle-

ment in the east of the colony to take advantage of expanding

commercial opportunities. This settlement was called Fula Town,

and it stretched from Dunkley Street on the north to Rocklyn

Street on the south, and terminated at Mountain Cut. Fula Town

became a place of residence for permanent as well as itinerant

Fula traders who participated in the commerce of Freetown. It

was also a center of Islamic culture and proselytizing as Mus-

lim Fula embarked on the mission of converting the colonys

multiethnic population to Islam, although this was not readily

welcomed by the Christian missionaries and the colonial ad-

ministration.6

The Fula in Freetown were part of a larger diaspora in

Sierra Leone that included the Koinadugu district, where the

Fula diaspora is concentrated today; the Tonkolili district; the

Bombali district; the Kailahun district; and the Pujehun dis-

trict in the Sierra Leone protectorate. Fula migration to some

of these areas dates back to the seventeenth century, but the

major waves occurred between the eighteenth and twentieth

centuries. Like the Fula who migrated to Freetown, the Fula

who migrated to the outlying districts were primarily moti-

2 / African Entrepreneurship


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vated by commercial opportunity. They also played a major

role in the spread of Islam in the Sierra Leonean hinterland

through their establishment of educational institutions and their

proselytizing efforts. Although nomadic and itinerant, many of

these Fula immigrants became sedentary and created Islamic

communities among the indigenous inhabitants. Moreover, some

Fula families, such as the Bunduka in the Bombali district and

the Kai Kai in the Pujehun district, even became political rulers

in their communities. Over the years Fula families such as the

Bunduka, Jah, and Kai Kai were acculturated through cross-

ethnic marriages. Many of the offspring of these Fula immi-

grants migrated to Freetown, where they settled permanently.

A notable example is Alhaji Abubakr (A. B.) Tejan-Jalloh, who

lived in the east of Freetown.7

The Fula came from different areas of West Africa and from

diverse social origins, the vast majority from Fuuta Jalon. These

immigrants were mostly from the diiwe (administrative re-

gions) of Timbo, Hacundemaje, Lab, and Timbe in Fuuta

Jalon; in fact, the Fula community in Freetown was originally

divided into these four administrative units. But in the 1960s

seven divisionsMaasi, Bantikel, Tliml, Burwaltapel, Koi,

Bomboli, and Korladehwere added to reflect the growing

Fula population in Freetown. In addition, the Timbi section

was divided into two units: Timbi Madina and Timbi Tuni.

These divisions, which were headed by subchiefs, were based

on clan and territorial units in Fuuta Jalon. The subchiefs

were appointed by and accountable to the Fula chief.8

Despite their common homeland, there were divisions among

the Fuuta Jalon Fula. The main clans were Jalloh or Diallo

(Yirlaabe), Bah or Ba (Ururbe), Barrie or Barry (Dayyibe), and

Sow (Ferrobe). The vast majority of the Fuuta Jalon Fula in

Freetown retained these clan identities asjettooje(family names).

Clan membership and alliances were important in Fula com-

mercial organization and political organizing in Freetown.9 The

The Fula Trading Population / 3


35/320

immigrants were involved in chain migration that resulted in

the clustering in Freetown of migrants from the same towns in

Fuuta Jalon. They formed tightly knit communities around the

large groups of kin and fellow townspeople to which the major-

ity of the immigrants belonged. In addition, many of them re-

tained strong links with their hometowns, links reinforced by

ongoing flows of money and people.10

Besides the Fuuta Jalon Fula, there were the Fula from

Senegal, such as the Bunduka, Alhaji Amadu-Sie, and Alhaji

Momodu Allie (fig. 1.1), whose homeland was Fuuta Toro

along the Senegal River.11 They constituted a minority in the

Fula community. These Fula, like the Fuuta Jalon Fula, came

to Sierra Leone primarily for trade. Alhaji Allie, for example,

left Senegal in 1904 and traveled with a French cattle trader,

Ernest Furrer, along the coast through Bathurst (the capital

city of the Gambia; later Banjul) and Conakry (the capital city

of Guinea) to Freetown to trade in cattle. He then settled per-

manently in the east of the colony among a multiethnic Mus-

lim immigrant population. Between 1904 and1948 Alhaji Allie

exploited several commercial opportunities in the butchering

business and real estate market of Freetown to become one of

the most successful entrepreneurs in colonial Sierra Leone. He

also created extensive social networks that, together with his

financial success, gave his family an elite status in the colonial

and postcolonial Fula community.12

Not only was there a slight linguistic difference between

the Fula from Fuuta Jalon, with a Puol-Poulle dialect, and

those from Senegal, with a Haalpulaaren dialect, but these

groups were political rivals in Freetown.13 Both the Fuuta

Jalon and Senegalese Fula in Sierra Leone were part of a large

Fula group spread through much of West Africa from Senegal

to Lake Chad. But unlike Fula in northern Nigeria, those in

Sierra Leone did not enforce purdah on women. Much has

been written about the Fula elsewhere in West Africa detail-



36/320

ing their origins, which remain controversial among scholars.

Scholars have also written extensively about the Fulas pas-

toral mode of existence, mercantile pursuits, and role in the

spread of Islam in West Africa. Most of these studies have

focused on the Fula communities in Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal,

and The Gambia.14

Although Fula immigrants were lumped together and stereo-

typed as an underclass by urban residents in colonial Freetown,

they were not socially homogeneous. Some of them came from

wealthy aristocratic families in societies where cattle, not cash,

was the basis ofjawdi (wealth). In fact, Fula immigrants like

Alhaji Allie and Almamy Oumarou Jalloh-Jamburia (fig. 1.2)

came from the rimbe(noble class) in Fuuta Toro in Senegal and


Fig. 1.1. Alhaji Momodu Allie (Fula chief and businessman)

FPO80%


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teens or early adulthood who had left their parents or young

wives and children to pursue economic opportunities in Free-

town and to avoid French military conscription. They were

mostly worok (porters), hawkers, shopkeepers, and cattle traders.

A primary reason for the small permanent Fula settlement was

that the Fula were unwilling to settle in a predominantly Chris-

tian society, which they felt would compromise their Islamic

values. Moreover, many of the Fula were nomads who were

averse to sedentary life in the colony.17

However, the early 1930s, following the Great Depression,

represented a watershed in Fula migration to Freetown. Ac-

cording to the 1931 census, the Fula population there had in-

creased by 85 percent since 1921. Their number rose from 719

in1921 to1,331 in1931 out of a total population of95,558. Of

this increase 1,072 were male Fula, while 259 were Fulamusus

(Fula women).18 The vast majority of Fula immigrants were

undocumented aliens from Guinea. There were several entry

points through which they entered Sierra Leone. Of these the

Kambia, Bombali, and Koinadugu districts, on the northern

border with Guinea, were often used by young Fula male im-

migrants in their teens or early adulthood.19 They migrated

alone or in small groups and would often first migrate to

Freetown to look for lodging and to learn Krio, the lingua

franca in Sierra Leone,20 before sending for their Fula wives.

But some married non-Fula indigenous women living in Free-

town or in the protectorate whom they brought with them to

Freetown.21

The increased Fula migration to Freetown during this pe-

riod was part of a larger migration of several ethnic groups

from the protectorate to that city. This internal migration was

occasioned by economic hardship brought about by the Great

Depression. This also accounts for the large presence in Free-

town of immigrants, mostly males, from other West African

countries like Liberia. Furthermore, the immigrants were



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attracted by employment opportunities and higher wages in

such areas of the colonys economy as the construction of mil-

itary fortifications, which resulted from the outbreak of World

War II.22

Many of the Fula immigrants became merchants only after

they settled in Freetown. They arrived impoverished, drawn

by the possibilities of becoming wealthy through trade. They

were fired with the ambition to succeed but hamstrung by the

lack of capital. For these immigrants the good life was a com-

bination of wealth gained through trade and the progressive

attainment of Islamic learning, both forms of power and suc-

cess among the Fula. Through success in trade they hoped to

attain leisure time, which they would devote to learning and to

one of the most coveted gifts that wealth can bring to a Fula,

the opportunity to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. The tes-

timonies of these immigrants indicate that they endured the

emotional hardship of leaving their families behind and the

physical pain of traveling hundreds of miles on foot, by road,

and by sea to Freetown to accumulate wealth through trading.

Since these Fula immigrants lacked Western education and

did not desire to acquire it because of their Islamic faith, trad-

ing was the only occupation open to them in the Westernized

colony.23

Moreover, many Fuuta Jalon immigrants recount that they

migrated to Freetown to escape intolerable economic condi-

tions that were compounded by oppressive French taxation

and military conscription. They saw the city as offering a rel-

atively better life in terms of economic opportunities. The

colonial administration had concentrated Sierra Leones utili-

ties as well as industrial, commercial, financial, and educa-

tional institutions in Freetown. The city became the focus of

modernization and migration, making it and the surrounding

area the most densely populated part of the country. Although

the whole of West Africa experienced economic difficulties be-



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cause of the Great Depression, Freetown fared much better in

terms of job opportunities and higher wages than did many

areas of the region.24

Not all the Fula immigrants came directly to Freetown. A

large number of them settled first in the protectorate, espe-

cially in the Bombali, Tonkolili, and Koinadugu districts, be-

fore migrating to Freetown. These Fula established kinship

networks within their communities and across their regions

with other Fula connections that served social and commercial

purposes. Many of these Fula accumulated some capital through

trading before resettling in Freetown to take advantage of

greater economic opportunities. Often they were told by re-

turning Fula kinsmen from Freetown about the many com-

mercial opportunities in the city. The testimonies of these

immigrant merchants reveal that they traded in various mer-

chandiseincluding kola nuts, cattle, and palm oilwithin

the protectorate and between this area and Freetown. Many of

them maintained their trade networks with the protectorate

after they settled permanently in the city.25

Once in Freetown, the Fula immigrants quickly established

a reputation for shrewdness, frugality, and resourcefulness,

even though they were unfamiliar with the language, culture,

and laws of their new country. Although ridiculed and ha-

rassed by some urban dwellers, the Fula immigrants were also

known for a habit of silent submission, amenability to disci-

pline, and willingness to work long hours without protest.

This endeared them to many Freetown residents, especially

Krio professionals and merchants as well as Lebanese and In-

dian traders. The Fula immigrants were employed in occupa-

tions disdained by urban dwellers; they served as domestic

servants, shop boys, cooks, and watchmen (night security), and

a large number of them were self-employed as worok in the

major markets of Freetown. It was from these menial jobs that

many of them saved their start-up trading capital, which



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allowed them to make a transition to self-employed merchants.

These Fula immigrants were economically ambitious, low-key,

well organized, self-confident, and practical.26

Colonial Reaction to Fula Migration and Settlement

By the end of World War II the Fula population in Freetown

had increased substantially because of migration from Guinea.

Most of the Fula immigrants were undocumented aliens who

were motivated by economic opportunities. The extent of Fula

migration was such that the colonial administration responded

by enforcing a strict immigration policy that called for repatri-

ation of undocumented Fula to Guinea. In May 1945 the com-

missioner of police acknowledged that the Fula were a serious

immigration problem.27

In addition to the Police Department, the Labor Depart-

ment was also involved in the concerted effort of the colonial

administration to check Fula immigration to Freetown. But

there was disagreement among colonial officials regarding the

immigration status of the Fula. In November 1943 the assis-

tant police magistrate ruled in a court case that the Fula were

natives of French Guinea and were therefore not liable to be

repatriated to the protectorate in accordance with the Defence

Regulations of1943, which covered the repatriation of unem-

ployed protectorate natives.28 Yet it was the impression of the

commissioner of labor that at the time of drafting the Defence

Regulations the Fula would come within the scope of these

Regulations.29 It was also the opinion of the acting attorney

general that Foulahs [Fula] are Natives of the Protectorate

within the meaning of the Regulations (Defence Act, 1939).

Both the commissioner and the attorney general therefore dis-

agreed with the position of the assistant police magistrate.30

Despite official differences over the immigration status of



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ginalized immigrants and gradually exploited commercial op-

portunities in the Sierra Leonean economy to make a transi-

tion from hawkers to successful businesspersons. They were

concentrated in Freetown, where they owned several shops

and competed mostly with the Indians in the retailing of im-

ported merchandise.37

The Krio were immigrants who came from the New World,

West African countries like Nigeria, and the interior of Sierra

Leone. A great deal has been written about the Krio; therefore

their history will simply be outlined here. As noted above, in

1787 the Sierra Leone peninsula became the home of emanci-

pated Africans, the black poor, who were living in England; this

was largely due to the efforts of British humanitarians like

Granville Sharp and William Wilberforce. Between 1792 and

1800 the settler population was increased with the arrival of

Nova Scotians, emancipated blacks who had settled there after

the American War of Independence, and Maroons, who were

former fugitive slaves in Jamaica, mainly from the Ashanti in

Ghana. This settler population was increased by the arrival of

Recaptives, who were set free following the British Parlia-

ments declaration of the slave trade as illegal in 1807. The Re-

captives, Liberated Africans, were mostly Yoruba, but others

came from different areas of West Africa, like Senegal and the

interior of Sierra Leone. It was the gradual genetic and cultural

fusion of these groups that produced a Krio society in the nine-

teenth century. Krio society, which consisted of European and

African cultures, was heavily influenced by Western values and

Christianity. For several decades the Krio exercised elite influ-

ence over the economy, politics, and social life of Freetown.38

As a Muslim immigrant population, the Fula maintained a

large degree of cultural exclusiveness with few cross-ethnic

marriages in the multiethnic society of Freetown. This may be

explained by the strong Fula adherence to Islam and their

assumed cultural superiority over the rest of the Freetown



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population. The Fula were residentially segregated in colonial

Freetown. While the Europeans lived in the western and cen-

tral wards of the city, the Fula immigrants, like most Muslim

immigrants, like the Mandinka, were concentrated in the east-

ern area. The Fula also lived alongside indigenous Muslims,

like the Temne. The cross-ethnic Freetown Muslim commu-

nity was based in the eastern part of the city.39

Although Fula traders were well respected by the Muslim

community in colonial Freetown, they occupied a lower posi-

tion in the general social hierarchy. This resulted primarily

from their lack of Western education, which was heavily influ-

enced by Christianity. Western education rather than wealth

was the chief criterion for entry into the social elite of the city.

The vast majority of the Fula immigrants showed no inclina-

tion to acquire even rudimentary Western education because

they held the conviction that it would compromise their Is-

lamic faith. These Fula believed that Western education was

not recognized by Allah and only served a secular purpose. Is-

lamic education, on the other hand, prepared an individual for

paradise after death. Most of these immigrants dissuaded their

offspring, especially women, from attending Western schools

for fear that they would murtude (rebel by becoming Western-

ized) and therefore turn away from Islamic values and Fula

cultural practices, such as prearranged marriage and absten-

tion from alcohol. Moreover, the humble origins of many Fula

traders and the stigma attached to their occupation weakened

their claim as a group to elite status in the eyes of many Free-

town residents, especially Western-educated Krio.40

Postcolonial Fula Migration and Settlement

After independence, which was achieved on 27 April 1961,

many Fula who planned to return home after reaping a quick

profit never did so. This may be explained by their accumula-



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tion of properties in Freetown, their raising of families, and

the relatively poor economic conditions in their homelands.41

Between 1961 and the 1970s the Fula population in Freetown

increased substantially. In 1963 it was estimated at 6,533 out

of a total population of161,258.42 In1974 it rose to 13,290 out

of a total of 276,247, or nearly 5 percent.43 These figures do

not accurately reflect the total strength of the Fula population,

since those without valid travel documents like passports con-

stituted the bulk and evaded being counted by census officials

for fear of deportation to their homelands. In fact, deportation

was a frequent recourse for government officials dealing with

the problem of Fula immigration. In one deportation court

hearing in Freetown in 1963 involving a Fula who entered

Sierra Leone without a passport, Mr. Livesey Luke, the defen-

dants lawyer, pleaded with the acting senior police magistrate,

J. B. Short, that deportation of the Fula was contrary to the

spirit of the African Unity Charter, which had been signed by

thirty African heads of states that year at the first meeting of

the Organization of African Unity in Addis Ababa.44

A major factor leading to the growth of the Fula commu-

nity was the political persecution of the Fula in postindepen-

dence Guinea under the rule of President Skou Tour, who

was of Mandinka ancestry. In September 1958 Guinea rejected

the Franco-African community proposed by the French colo-

nial government and opted for independence with Skou Tour

as its first president. President Tour then established one-

party rule under the Parti Dmocratique de Guine (PDG),

which had a socialist ideology and drew heavily on a Marxist-

Leninist doctrine of political organization and the role of the

party in the state. Under this political system the Fula, who

were the largest ethnic group and whose aristocratic tradi-

tional rulers had exercised considerable political power in the

precolonial period, were underrepresented and denied political

privileges.45

Political persecution of the Fula under President Tours



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socialist one-party rule became widespread in the 1960s and

1970s. Between 1962 and1976 President Tour dismissed and

arrested Fula government ministers such as Ibrahima Barry

and Diallo Telli, the former secretary general of the Organi-

zation of African Unity (OAU), and purged the army of Fula.

The Fula were perceived by President Tour and his PDG as

a serious political threat. The persecution of Fula political

leaders convinced many Fula that their personal safety could

not be guaranteed under President Tours one-party state.

Furthermore, the abortive Portuguese invasion of Guinea in

1970 led to additional severe persecution of the Fula as Presi-

dent Tour accused them of collaborating with the Portuguese

invaders. The result was a rapidly increasing emigration of the

Fula, mostly males, from Guinea to neighboring countries,

including Sierra Leone. These newcomers, like the older im-

migrants, were largely unassimilated; but unlike their prede-

cessors, they came not just from Fuuta Jalon but other areas in

Guinea, like Conakry, the capital city.46

The testimonies of these recent Fula arrivals also reveal

that they migrated to Freetown because of their opposition to

the economic ideology of President Tour.47 The Guinean econ-

omy, which was based on socialism, denied enterprising Fula

the opportunity to engage in private enterprise. Between 1958

and 1961 the PDG nationalized banks, insurance companies,

and foreign trade companies. The PDG introduced state-owned

enterprises, which monopolized most of the internal and ex-

ternal wholesale trade. These businesses bought products

from local merchants at fixed prices, which were generally

lower than market prices. In order to consolidate private trade

in fewer hands, the PDG in 1964 imposed stringent controls

on retail trade that required shop owners and merchants to de-

posit large sums of money in government banks in order to be

entitled to engage in commerce. This law severely disrupted

the distribution of goods. In 1972 Guinea withdrew from the



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interior), C. A. Kamara-Taylor, on the issue of Fula migration

to Freetown. He made four recommendations to the govern-

ment. First, the government should start immediate registra-

tion of every male Fula resident in Freetown twenty-one years

of age and older. Second, all the Fula resident in Sierra Leone

since 19April 1971, when the country became a republic, should

be registered as Sierra Leonean citizens. Third, all the Fula

who entered Sierra Leone after the declaration of a republic

should be registered as noncitizens. Fourth, the Fula chief

should appoint twenty section chiefs, who would ensure that

all current Fula residents as well as new immigrants were reg-

istered. According to the Republican Constitution Citizenship

Act, every person who, having been born in Sierra Leone be-

fore the nineteenth day of April, 1971, or who was resident in

Sierra Leone on the eighteenth day of April, 1971, and not the

subject of any State shall on the nineteenth day of April, 1971,

be deemed to be a citizen of Sierra Leone by birth, provided

that his father or his grandfather was born in Sierra Leone or

he is a person of negro African descent. Although many Fula

qualified as Sierra Leonean citizens under this constitutional

provision, a large number of non-Fula Sierra Leoneans consid-

ered Fula as foreigners from Guinea. This widespread per-

ception did not exist for similar ethnic groups with a Guinean

background, like the Soso.51

By 1976 the Fula population had grown to such an extent

as to cause public alarm among Sierra Leoneans. This concern

was expressed in a local newspaper in a section titled What

the Public Say: Halt the Influx of Foulah [Fula].52 The ex-

pression of public concern over the increased Fula immigrant

population did not go unnoticed by the Fula chief. He met with

the commissioner of police to assure him that he would work

with the government to regulate Fula immigration to Free-

town. Alhaji Bah held several private meetings with his sub-

chiefs over this issue.53



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The problem of unregistered Fula immigrants, which had

plagued the British colonial administration, was faced by the

postindependence Sierra Leonean government. In 1978 the

government established the National Registration Secretariat,

with its headquarters in Freetown, to document Sierra Leon-

eans as well as foreign nationals living in Sierra Leone. In

addressing members of the Freetown West II Constituency,

Prime Minister C. A. Kamara-Taylor, who was also secretary-

general of the APC Party, spoke about the importance of the

national registration and stated that government was gravely

concerned about the illegal influx of strangers.54 Only 109

Sierra Leoneanborn Fula registered, and 32 of those were

traders. Of the 2,576 Guinean-born Fula who registered, 1,229

were traders. Nine of the 12 Fula from Senegal who registered

were traders; of the 9 from Gambia who registered, 3 were

merchants; and 2 of the 5 from Mali were merchants.55

The evidence suggests that the bulk of the Sierra Leonean

born Fula as well as those who were non-Sierra Leoneans did

not register with the secretariat. This may be explained by two

factors. The first is that the Fula, both nationals and foreign-

born, wanted to avoid the payment of government business

taxes, which they considered too high. The second is that un-

documented Fula were apprehensive of deportation to their

countries of origin. The Fula who came from Guinea were ter-

rified by the prospect of returning to a country whose political

leadership was oppressive and whose economy was depressed,

with few employment opportunities and low wages.56

Thefirst-, second-, third-, fourth-, and even fifth-generation

Sierra Leoneanborn Fula were the offspring of Fula immi-

grant parents and interethnic marriages between Fula and

members of indigenous ethnic groups, like the Temne. In con-

trast to their immigrant parents, some of the Sierra Leonean

born Fula, like the children of Almamy Jamburia, were assim-

ilated into Freetown society, in which they received Western



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education and competed for social mobility through profes-

sional success.57

But it was extremely difficult to differentiate a Guinean-

born Fula from a Sierra Leoneanborn Fula when a birth cer-

tificate was not available, as was the case for many Fula born

in the provinces. This posed a major problem in determining

citizenship status for many Fula in postindependence Sierra

Leone. The Fula, even when born in Sierra Leone, were ex-

pected to demonstrate fluency in Krio to be socially considered

bona fide Sierra Leoneans. This was not the case for other im-

migrant groups, like the Soso or Yalunka. According to the in-

dependence constitution, the offspring of a Fula father and a

Sierra Leonean mother were citizens, as were third-generation

Fula immigrants. The Sierra Leone Citizenship Act passed by

Parliament in April 1973 confirmed the citizenship status of

Fula whose mothers were Sierra Leoneans. A large number

of first-generation Fula immigrants, including Alhaji Bah,

became Sierra Leonean citizens through naturalization. The

problem of determining Fula citizenship in Sierra Leone was

similarly faced by a large number of African immigrants in

several host countries in West Africa.58

Despite the legal status of many Fula immigrants and their

offspring as Sierra Leoneans, there was a prevalent public per-

ception of them as strangers who belonged to Guinea. This

image was reinforced by the refusal of many Fula immigrants

to consider themselves Sierra Leoneans despite their long resi-

dence in the country. The Fula immigrant psychology that held

Freetown to be only a temporary residence prevented them

from fully integrating themselves into the city, and conse-

quently limited their ability to assert their rights as citizens

and prevent harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. Corrupt

police officers and politicians often exploited the ignorance and

fear of deportation of many Fula immigrants, even those who

were citizens and legal residents, and took money and mer-



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Sierra Leone. The Ghanaian aliens were also accused of taking

jobs from local Nigerians. Like Fula immigrants in Sierra Leone,

many West African immigrants, including Ghanaians, crossed

national boundaries in search of better-paying jobs and com-

mercial opportunities.61

Postcolonial Fula Social Structure

Within the emergent male-dominated Fula trading sector

comprising older immigrants and newcomers as well as Sierra

Leoneanborn Fula, not only was wealthwhich included

cash, property, and cattlea status symbol, it was also an av-

enue for social mobility. While some of the earlier immigrants,

like Alhaji Allie, came from aristocratic backgrounds, many, es-

pecially the newcomers, occupied a low ascriptive status. For

Fula who came from the lowest social stratum in their home-

lands, commerce provided opportunities to become wealthy

and achieve social recognition in postcolonial Freetown. Exam-

ples of upward social mobility among the merchants are legion.

An industrious unknown could through hard work, accumula-

tion of capital, marriage and kinship, and a bit of luck work his

way into the respectable upper group of the Fula merchant

class. Personal achievement allowed for social mobility and

produced a society in which there was a constant filtering of

members in and out of the middle and upper merchant groups.

The traditional Fula class divisions based on ascriptive values

were weak among the Sierra Leoneanborn Fula and the new

Fula immigrants in the multiethnic city. The evidence also sug-

gests that many successful Fula merchants remembered their

humble origins and were willing to help worthy young Fula re-

peat the same process of upward social and economic mobility.

Commercial networking across generational lines among the

Fula in Sierra Leone was not unique. It existed in similar ethnic



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diaspora communities elsewhere in West Africa, like those of

the Hausa in Ibadan and the Yoruba in northern Ghana. Fac-

tors like kinship ties, limited formal credit options, the need for

start-up capital, intergenerational business continuity, the need

for clients to support commercial activities like business expan-

sion, and trading competition from other ethnic groups led

many West African immigrants, including the Fula, to develop

extensive commercial networks in their host societies. Such

networks also often served the social and political activities of

the mercantile immigrants in their local communities.62

Status in the Fula mercantile community was determined

by style and quality of clothing, as well as by wealth. Upper-

class Fula traders symbolized their class position by wearing

braided, three-piece gowns made from expensive imported

cotton. This form of dress was one of the visible differences

that separated the elite from those at the social periphery of

the Fula community. That the successful Fula merchants did

not wear Western-type dress such as woolen suits, which were

considered prestigious by Western-educated Sierra Leoneans,

is further evidence of the degree to which they sustained their

culture in the plural society of Freetown.

The Fula merchant beynguure (family) was traditional, with

the moodi(husband) as the head who made all the major deci-

sions. Inheritance was through the male line. In addition,

these households were mostly polygamous; it was common for

a Fula trader to have two, three, or four beynguly (wives). Mar-

riages were often prearranged and were the products of family

agreements. With a favorable match a family gained prestige

or wealth through its new tie to a family of equal or greater

reputation and resources. The happiness of the bride and

groom was a lesser consideration, and marriage for love alone

was unthinkable. Women were expected to be subservient to

their husbands and children to their parents. According to

Alhaji Tejan-Jalloh, registrar of marriages and divorce of the



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Fula mosque in Freetown, most Fula merchants were married

and practiced polygamy.63 By embracing polygamy, the Fula

merchants were following traditions of marriage that were

consistent with their Islamic faith.64

Fula polygamous marriages are recognized by the Moham-

medan [Islamic] Marriage Act, which deals with marriage,

divorce, and intestate succession under Islamic law and cus-

tomary law. This act is one of the components of the Non-

Customary Family Law of Sierra Leone. The others include

the Christian Marriage Act, which provides for monogamous

marriage services conducted in church, and the Civil Marriage

Act, which provides for marriages that take place before a reg-

istrar. There are various customary laws reflecting the ethnic

diversity of the country that form a single body of laws, the

Customary Law of Sierra Leone.65 While the male Fula mer-

chants ruled the beynguure, their wives managed them. Most

beynguure had a beyngu aranoh (first wife) who supervised the

running of the household and assigned various roles to other

wives married after her. The overwhelming majority of women

in the Fula households were housewives. The male children

were expected to help their fathers in their occupational en-

deavors while the female children were expected to be with

their mothers and learn their social roles, such as cooking.

Children were regarded as assets and were often considered as

belonging to a kin group. As a result they were cared for by

many Fula, who taught them the norms and values of Fula

society. Through this extensive form of interaction children

learned how to become Muslims, be responsible and hardwork-

ing, and respect the mawbe (elders), the latter of which is greatly

emphasized in Fula households. For women there was a deep-

rooted belief that if they fulfilled their obligations to their hus-

bands, such as being submissive and respectful, they and their

children would have barki (the Fula term for baraka), which

brought about long life, prosperity, and harmony within the



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family. There was also the entrenched belief that a fathers kata

(curse) on his wives or children could lead to misfortunes like

poverty and illness in their lives. The parent-child relationship

was largely authoritarian. Parents seldom listened to their chil-

dren, and in most cases they would demand absolute obedience

and submission from them. Children who went along with this

practice were said to have barki.66

Practical considerations also led the Fula traders to em-

brace polygamy. Since many of these merchants traveled fre-

quently between Freetown and the provinces and within the

provinces, they married two, three, or four wives who resided

in Freetown and in the provinces. This practice enabled Fula

merchants to focus on their trading careers and to expand their

social and commercial contacts. Moreover, it provided them

with home environments while they were away for long peri-

ods of time conducting business, and it allowed them to abide

by the Islamic injunctions against fornication and adultery.67

Within the Fula immigrant community a large number of

males constituted an endogamous subgroupthat is, they nei-

ther gave their biddo wrewbe (daughters) to members of other

ethnic groups nor took wives from those groups. These Fula

tended to marry women from their own ethnic group, espe-

cially those from their clan or hometown. In fact, it was a com-

mon practice among the Fula to marry their first cousins.

These Fula practiced endogamous marriages for psychological

and cultural reasons. Moreover, kinship affinity, religious com-

patibility, language commonality, and a shared cultural home-

land led these Fula to marry immigrant beyngu instead of

those born in Sierra Leone or indigenous women. This re-

sulted in intensive social interaction within this subgroup.68

But there is also evidence that some Fula traders married

indigenous women like the Temne in addition to their immi-

grant beyngu, and a sizable number married indigenous

women exclusively. As noted above, some of these marriages



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were consummated in the provinces before the Fula merchants

settled in Freetown. The desire to acquire citizenship status or

legal alien status as well as to have access to prominent Sierra

Leonean families for business opportunities contributed to the

frequency of such interethnic marriages in Freetown. Despite

these cross-ethnic marriages, these Fula did not lose their cul-

tural distinctiveness.

In the postindependence period there was a significant in-

crease in interethnic marriages as the Sierra Leoneanborn

Fula merchants raised in a fluid ethnic pluralistic society en-

tered into cross-ethnic conjugal relationships. The considera-

tions that restrained many Fula immigrant merchants in their

choice of marriage partners, such as identical clan and ethnic

identity, were peripheral to many Sierra Leoneanborn Fula.

The legendary Alhaji Mohammed Bailor Barrie, for example,

married Lebanese, Kono, and Fula wives (he had four spouses).69

Although the quantitative data on the effects of polygamy

on Fula capital accumulation are incomplete, they suggest the

frequent diversion of business capital to social expenses cre-

ated by polygamous marriages. Such costs included monetary

and material gifts by the Fula merchants to their wives, in-

laws, and members of the extended family; pilgrimage ex-

penses for their wives and relatives to Mecca; and maintenance

of separate households for their wives. Attempts to re-build

the fortune of the founding merchant of a Fula polygamous

family lost through the above expenses met with varying de-

grees of success. At times a son or son-in-law continuing in

commerce was able to amass a fortune equal to or greater than

that which had been made by the older merchant. But other

Fula merchants were unable to recoup the fortunes of their

merchant fathers or fathers-in-law, in part because the original

estate was too decimated by polygamous inheritance to with-

stand the vicissitudes of commerce.

The size of a household was an index of wealth and social



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standing among the Fula traders. A large household made up

of multiple wives, children, and extended family members was

seen as a manifestation of wealth and social prestige. Conse-

quently, many of the Fula traders had large households and

polygamous marriages. The government survey of households

between 1966 and 1968 shows that the Fula had some of the

largest households in Freetown.70

There was a high degree of consanguineous and affined kin-

ship among members of the Fula merchant class. Individual

merchants sought to solidify their social and business posi-

tions through the use of the kinship system. Close relations

and affined ties produced groups of merchants who, if not in

actual partnership, were loyal to each other and interested in

each others prosperity. It was not uncommon for a powerful

merchant to have sons, sons-in-law, brothers, brothers-in-law,

nephews, cousins, and grandsons tied to each other not only

by blood and marriage but by an ever-expanding net of com-

mercial interests. Important merchants like Alhaji Barrie

strengthened their own social and business positions by creat-

ing such kinship groups.

Moreover, there was a high degree of class endogamy dem-

onstrated by the Fula merchants, which gave continuity to their

mercantile enterprises. Through the marriage of his daughter

to a younger merchant, a Fula trader cemented old partner-

ships and formed new ones, gaining the added promise of con-

tinuation of the family business, introduction of new energy

and capital, and a decent life for his daughter, as well as a son-

in-law whose behavior he could understand and predict. To

the Fula groom, his marriage to the merchants daughter her-

alded an alliance with an established tradesman, extension of

business and personal contacts through the offices of his

father-in-law, access to goods and lending capital, and accep-

tance by fellow merchants.

The Fula merchants were integrated byjokereendhan (social



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solidarity), a cultural practice that brought together the Fula

irrespective of social class to help one another in diverse ways.

This was demonstrated both in difficult times, such as unem-

ployment, and in celebrations, such as naming ceremonies. In

the context of commerce, jokereendhan led many wealthy Fula

merchants to give interest-free loans as well as nonrepayable

start-up capital to needy recent arrivals in order to help them

undertake trading. In contrast to some mercantile groups like

the Temne, the Fula urban migrants did not have credit mech-

anisms like the esusu(rotating-savings-credit association). Place

of origin was of great importance in Fula interpersonal rela-

tions, jokereendhan notwithstanding. A new migrant expected

more help from Fula from his own settlement of origin than

from others, and there was also more trust among Fula com-

ing from the same place. New immigrants tended to do busi-

ness with landlords from their settlements of origin, and

similarly, landlords tended to recruit clients from their home

settlements when possible.71

While there was considerable solidarity in the postinde-

pendence Fula mercantile community, many of the Fula immi-

grants remained largely unassimilated into the Christian-based,

plural society of Freetown. They were still averse to Western

education, which remained a prerequisite for integration into

the host society. Islam was still a primary factor that deter-

mined the degree of incorporation of the Fula immigrant mer-

chants into Freetown society, since their faith still led them to

perceive the dominant Christian Krio culture as a threat to their

way of life. Moreover, an immigrant psychology prevailed, which

saw Freetown as only a temporary residence where the Fula

could accumulate trading capital and purchase merchandise,

mostly imported, before returning to their homelands. Para-

doxically, the evidence shows that many of the older Fula immi-

grants died in Freetown.72

Differences also existed between the Fula settlers and new-



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comers, on the one hand, and the Sierra Leoneanborn Fula,

on the other, over degree of Islamization, knowledge of Pulaar

and of Fula culture, extent of acquisition of Western educa-

tion, and identification with Fula homelands. The Fula immi-

grants, especially those from Guinea, tried to reproduce their

culture and social system in Freetown. Moreover, many of

these immigrants described the Sierra Leoneanborn Fula

derogatorily as Fula Krio, suggesting that they had aban-

doned their Fula culture. While the Fuuta Jalon immigrants

viewed themselves as belonging to groups based on place of

origin, the Sierra Leoneanborn Fula opposed the re-creation

of these homeland cultural divisions in the ethnically hetero-

geneous Freetown society. They viewed such divisions as

politically divisive and leading to weakened intra-Fula cooper-

ation. Although the Sierra Leoneanborn Fula retained their

cultural identity, they did not emphasize their cultural exclu-

siveness in the social milieu of Freetown, in contrast to the

older immigrants and newcomers.

Although wealth and Islamic learning remained the pri-

mary indices of social standing in the postcolonial Fula mer-

cantile community, Sierra Leoneanborn Fula, unlike most

immigrants, now recognized that their private enterprise would

be enhanced and their childrens social mobility facilitated if

they received Western education in addition to Islamic educa-

tion. But this was a slow process that required the example of

the Fula chief whose children received Western education and

the constant plea of Sierra Leoneanborn Fula elders like

Alhaji Tejan-Jalloh. Even when some Fula merchants sent their

children to Western schools, it was mostly the sons rather than

daughters who attended. Some of the sons not only received

high school education but also pursued higher education at

Fourah Bay College in Freetown. It was these Western-educated

Sierra Leoneanborn Fula who provided professional leader-

ship for the Fula community.73



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Despite their internal differences and minority status, in

postcolonial Freetown the Fula merchants, as a class, experi-

enced considerably more upward social mobility than they had

in the colonial period. Many Fula merchants became members

of the social elite because of their wealth. Some of these Fula

came from well-established merchant families like the Allies.

Although ascriptive values, family name, and titles continued

to be important in determining an individuals social position,

wealth, regardless of how it had been acquired, rather than

Western education now became the chief criterion for entry

into the social elite of the multiethnic city. While many Fula

merchants became successful (i.e., had financial independence

and high incomes, owned property and cattle, made the hajj,

and had a polygamous household), a large number made only

modest economic gains. For many of these Fula advancement

meant moving from wage employment or menial jobs to own-

ing retail shops in Freetown.

The migration of the Fula from different areas of West

Africa to Freetown during the colonial and postcolonial peri-

ods did not lead to a dissolution of their social ties with their

homelands. Many of them, especially Guineans, returned home

for periodic visits to reinforce their kinship links made weaker

by distance, and they also sent remittances to their kinsmen.

The Fula immigrants had widely extended kinship networks

that extended to their homelands. These networks were linked

to those elsewhere in Sierra Leone, forming part of an even

larger network extending over much of West Africa, espe-

cially Guinea. These kinship networks were an important as-

pect of the organizational structure of Fula commerce, which

is covered in the next three chapters.74



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2

The Livestock Trade

Fula dominated the livestock trade and its related butcher-

ing business in the postcolonial Freetown economy. This was

evidenced by the entrepreneurial career of Alhaji Momodu

Bah, which spanned the colonial and postcolonial periods. The

livestock trade was vertically integrated, with the Fula re-

sponsible for raising, purchasing, transporting, distributing,

and slaughtering livestock. Besides high beef prices, the suc-

cess of the Fula in the livestock business of Freetown can be

attributed to five factors. First, they controlled most of the

supply networks originating in Guinea and the northernprovince, especially the Koinadugu and Bombali districts. Sec-

ond, they controlled most of the retail distribution networks

through extensive kinship ties in the city. Third, through em-

ployment of kinsmen their operations were cost-effective.

Fourth, they had the ability to transport large numbers of

livestock legally or by smuggling across the Guinea-Sierra

Leone border to the major markets in Sierra Leone, such asFreetown. Finally, the favorable economic environment in

31


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Freetown that offered many employment and business op-

portunities attracted a large beef-consuming population, which

expanded the meat market. This high public demand for

meat was complemented by large government contracts for

meat.

The Early Livestock Trade

The Fula livestock trade was built on an earlier trade datingback to the seventeenth century, when the Fula brought with

them slaves, livestock (cattle, goats, and sheep), gold, and

handwoven cloth to exchange mostly for salt and European

manufactures. This trade, which was central to the economy of

colonial Freetown, as noted in chapter 1, was part of an inter-

regional commercial system that linked Freetown with the

provinces and Guinea. A number of scholars have examinedthis interregional trade during the precolonial period. Using

spatial analysis, Allen M. Howard, for example, has provided a

detailed case study of the Sierra LeoneGuinea interregional

commercial system during the second half of the nineteenth

century. In addition to stressing the geographic complemen-

tarity of Sierra Leone and Guinea and its impact on trade,

Howard describes the various products and trade networks in

this vast commercial system.1 C. Magbaily Fyle has further

expanded understanding of commerce in this region during

the nineteenth century by focusing on the state of Solima, cen-

tering on Falaba, the capital, as well as the Temne and Limba

commercial systems. As he notes, this commerce drew exten-

sively on indigenous commercial networks and markets that

predated the arrival of European trading activities in the

Sierra Leone hinterland, which extended to Kankan and Fuuta

Jalon.2



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Organization of the Livestock Trade

Sources of Cattle outside Sierra LeoneA major organizational feature of the livestock trade wascattle supply, since this was essential to the business success of

wholesale butchers not only in the Freetown economy but also

throughout Sierra Leone and elsewhere in West Africa, for ex-

ample, in Ghana and Nigeria.3 But access to cattle supply was

uneven among Freetown butchers. The dominance of a few

large butchers such as Alhaji Allie during the colonial era andAlhaji Momodu Bah in the postcolonial period may be ex-

plained in large measure by their privileged access to vast cat-

tle supplies from Fuuta Jalon in neighboring Guinea through

their status as almamy and their wealth and extensive kinship

ties.

From the colonial period to the postcolonial period over 60

percent of the cattle traded in Sierra Leone came from Fuuta

Jalon, which was the linchpin of the Fula cattle trade with

Freetown from a supply perspective, and the Fula played a

pivotal role as julas (cattle traders).4 Fuuta Jalons mountain

ranges made it possible for the Fula to raise large herds, many

of which were sold to neighboring countries like Sierra Leone,

which is why the Fuuta Jalon Fula were considered in West

Africa as cattle suppliers par excellence. Fula-owned nagge

(cattle) were of the Ndama type, which have no hump, in con-

trast to the large Zebu cattle kept by Fula in Senegal, Mali,

Burkina Faso, and northern Nigeria. Ndama cattle are also

resistant to the deadly disease trypanosomiasis (frequently

called sleeping sickness), spread by the tsetse fly. These cattle

are small, about four hundred pounds when fully grown. They

are raised primarily for meat, since they do not produce much

milk.5

Since the colonial period the Fula cattle trade was important

The Livestock Trade / 33


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to Freetown. The British colonial administration was commit-

ted to maintaining low-cost meat to the rapidly growing Free-

town population and its troops, both indigenous and British,

that were stationed in the colony during the two world wars.

This was revealed in a secret memorandum from 1945, in which

the governor stated that the [Fula] cattle trade is essential to

the maintenance of meat supplies in Sierra Leone.6 To pro-

cure meat and other food supplies for British and indigenous

troops stationed in Freetown during World War II, the colo-

nial administration created the Office of Food Controller at the

wars outbreak. This position was held by a British official

throughout the colonial era. It was the food controller who

awarded meat contracts to butchers after reviewing their ten-

ders and was also responsible for authorizing payment to meat

contractors.

Because Fuuta Jalon was the largest source of cattle supply,

the colonial administration continuously frustrated French ef-

forts to control the cattle trade and to prevent the smuggling

of livestock across the boundary. Fula smugglers were moti-

vated by higher prices in Sierra Leone and the desire to avoid

oppressive French taxation. Smuggling of livestock, which the

Fula continued into the postcolonial period, was a major as-

pect of the structure of their trade and helps explain their dom-

inance of the cattle trade.7 Despite French official protests, the

British colonial administration remained opposed to the French

efforts to regulate the cattle trade.8

Notwithstanding its frustration of French regulatory at-

tempts, the colonial administration negotiated the Cattle Pur-

chase Scheme with the French in 1944. According to article 5

of the trade agreement, the cattle offered by the French should

be at least four years old and should be accompanied by a vet-

erinary certificate of health when delivered to British frontier

stations. Anglo-French cooperation on the cattle trade contin-

ued in January 1952, when a conference was held in Vom,



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markets in the eastern and southern provinces, such as Kom-

bayende and Koindu, respectively, as well as Freetown. Most

of the Fula julas had well-established business and kinship

networks with Fula settlers in these markets. The livestock

markets in the northern province attracted buyers from differ-

ent areas of the country, including Kono, where demand for

meat was high because of the large population involved in the

diamond-mining industry in this area. But Freetown, with the

highest population in the country, accounted for over 60 per-

cent of the cattle market and had the most developed networks

in the country.11

Domestic Sources of Cattle

Also critical to the success of Freetown butchers was live-

stock raised within Sierra Leone, which accounted for roughly

30 percent of the cattle slaughtered in Freetown in the post-

colonial period. The dominance of the large-scale Fula butch-

ers such as Alhaji Bah may also be explained by their access to

a large share of the local cattle supplies. The major source of

cattle in Sierra Leone was the northern province, which shares

a border with Guinea in the northwest, north, northeast, and

east. The province comprises five districts: Bombali in the cen-

ter, Kambia and Port Loko in the west, Koinadugu in the east,

and Tonkolili in the south. The northern province is ideal for

cattle rearing because it has the most vast savanna grasslands

african entrepreneurship

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