Lamin Kamara Narrowly Escapes Gbangbani Initiation in Sierra Leone

By Kelvin Jay

Report Reaching Voice of Salone Newspaper revealed that Lamin Kamara, a son of a popular secret society member, narrowly escaped death from members of the secret society in his father’s village at Kamabai, Bombali District, in the northern part of Sierra Leone.

According to our sources, after the demise of Lamin’s father on the 7th January, 2019, members of the village piled pressure on Lamin to step in his father shoes in the Gbangbani Society.

Pa Salifu Kamara is the head of the Gbangbani society in that part of the country and has been involved in many ritual sacrifices to appease the gods of their society.

Lamin is the only and eldest son of his father and as tradition demands, he supposed to replace his father in the society after his demise.

An investigation conducted by this press revealed that after the demise of Lamin’s father, members of the Secret Society and elders of the Village considered Lamin as successor to his father in the Society. This pressure has brought unrest in Lamin life.

However, this forceful attempt by the elders of the Limba Gbangbani society to initiate Lamin into the society against his wish, has worsened the situation for the latter to battle for his life.

After receiving immense pressure from members of the society, Lamin took the bold step to convert to Christianity and began to follow the Christian doctrine. He was a fervent Muslim but decided to join the Christian religion and became adherence to the gospel by living a Christ-like life, this information was given to this press by sources closer to Lamin.

The decision of Lamin did not go down well with members of the Society, who, were searching to forcefully initiate him into the society, but they were unable to succeed in their venture, because he disappeared in a thin air.

Stakeholders in the Village interviewed by this Newspaper say that the penalty of disobeying the demands of the Gbangbani Secret society was death.

This press, however, interviewed people who were living with Lamin, and they told us that Lamin had gone missing since the day he had been coerced to replace his father in the Gbangbani Society.According to interview with community members and Stakeholders of the Community, Lamin has disappeared in the village and has gone to place where his right to association is respected.

Meanwhile, the sum of Le500,000 was set aside by top members of the Gbangbani Society for members of the public to provide accurate information leading to the capture of Lamin Kamara.

Since that money was set aside, nobody has ever come forward to disclose the whereabouts of Lamin Kamara.

This press also visited the residence of Lamin Kamara to enquire about his whereabouts, but to no avail.

This medium also discerned the desperation of members of the Society to get rid of Lamin Kamara and initiate him at all cost.

The Gbangbani Society is one of the most feared male Secret Society in SierraLeone in which some of the country’s leaders are also part of it.

They are believed to practice rigorous traditional rituals and there are reports undocumented of deaths of initiates in the society bush.