Liberia’s Oldest Chief Dies

LOFA COUNTY – The Paramount Chief of the Gbandi Chiefdom in Kolahun District, Lofa County, Joseph Nyandibe, is dead.

Family sources told the Daily Observer that Chief Nyandibe passed away Thursday, November 19, 2009 in his hometown of Mbaloma, Mombah Clan in Kolahun District, Lofa County following a brief illness. He was 90.

On July 26, 2008, Nyandibe was decorated as Knight Commander (KC) of the Mumane Order of African Redemption as the oldest serving chief in Liberia by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, during the Independence celebrations of that year.

The late paramount chief completed his junior high school education at Suehn Industrial Mission School in Bomi County in the late 1930s.

Upon completing high school, he was appointed to the post of District Development Officer responsible for ensuring that roads in the districts were brushed, bridges constructed and maintained and the town properly cleaned.

A few years later, he was asked to serve as clerk of the clan chief of Mambah town, being admired for his writing and typing skills.

After serving in that capacity for some time, Nyandibe was transferred to the office of the Paramount Chief where he served two paramount chiefs, including the late Chief Thomas Kollie of Mambah town.

In 1960, Nyandibe was elected clan chief of Hembah Clan, a position he held up to 1975.

During his chieftaincy, the late Nyandibe constructed the first Lutheran church in the clan. The church was given to Gbandi Parish of the Lutheran Church of Liberia.

The church, which was also used as school for the youth of the area, brought in several persons who were teachers from neighboring Sierra Leone to help run the institution.

He also constructed an air strip in the clan to enable Lutheran Church missionaries to travel to the clan to provide religious and medical assistance to residents.

In 1980 after the April coup, he was appointed to the post of acting paramount chief, following the death of Thomas Kollie who was later replaced by Chief Sekou Dudu by the People’s Redemption Council (PRC) government.

From 1975 to 1980, he served as an election magistrate for the district and later returned home to engage in farming. Later in 1984, he was invited by the late Edward Byan Kesselly to Voinjama to form a political party, which is today known as the Unity Party (UP).

In 1986, he contested the chieftaincy election on the UP ticket but lost the election to National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) candidate, Sakou Dudu, in a controversial showdown.

He also served during the regime of former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, as a paramount chief, based upon the nomination from residents of Kolahun District, a position he held up to his death.

Nyandibe attended several conferences on the Liberian peace conflict, including the 2003 Accra Peace Accord which ended the country’s civil war and led to the resignation of Charles Taylor.

He was married to 36 women and had 60 children and several grand and great grandchildren.

Meanwhile, the remains of Liberia’s oldest serving chief are currently deposited at a local funeral home in Monrovia. Burial arrangements will be announced later.