Santos A. Conteh

The Inheritance Dilemma Santos A. Conteh

Santos Armadou Conteh was born on May 15, 1943, at Nwagoronwa village, Magbaimba Dohahun chiefdom, Bombali District of Sierra Leone. He graduated from the Magburaka Boys Secondary School in 1960. Admitted at Fourah Bay College, University of Durham in 1963, he graduated with a B. A. Econs. in 1966. He worked as a civil servant from 1967 to 1972 then joined the National Development Bank Ltd, retiring in 1997 as Deputy Managing Director to migrate to the United States; he obtained an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2008. He wrote the "Investors Guide to Sierra Leone" under Gustav Samba and Associates. Santos is married with five children.

A Serious Dilemma

Bondaa is head of the Nwoingoha clan, the most influential and prosperous clan in his chiefdom. He is the supreme head of the chiefdom's most feared male gbangbani secret society into which only the circumcised can be initiated. Bondaa is a most skilful blacksmith who forged farm implements for Nwagoronwa village farmers and his chiefdom. His two wives have given him six beautiful daughters, but no son. However, age is catching up on him with respect to the blacksmith work. He faces a serious dilemma as to how he will pass on the headship of the clan and the society. Succession to the headship of the clan and the society, as sanctioned by traditional law for generation, could only be through the male line. To overcome this dilemma, Bondaa should do all that is humanly possible to ensure that his wealth together with the leadership of the clan and society are inherited by his own son. Our story tells you how he persistently and tirelessly surmounted the odds and challenges to succeed in solving his dilemma.