The Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs has begun the process to formally recognise and gazette the Dama Yannie Ruling House, describing it as the first recognised ruling house in Sierra Leone after the partitioning of the Protectorate.
In a public notice issued on 3 December 2025, the ministry confirmed that a formal petition has been submitted to gazette the Dama Yannie Ruling House, a lineage descended from Warrior King Maada Saffa Siacca Yannie, also known as Dama Yannie I.
According to the notice, the Dama Yannie dynasty played a key role in the early formation of chieftaincy governance in southern and eastern Sierra Leone. It is described as the earliest recorded example of hereditary chieftaincy continuity following the 1896 partition of the Protectorate into chiefdoms.
The ruling house traces its authority through several chiefdoms, including Dama, Nyawa, Langulama, Small Bo, Wandor, Nongowa, Vawahun, Sowa and Jawie. Its legitimacy, the notice says, is supported by customary law, historical records and documented succession traditions.
Historical records cited in the petition link the Yannie lineage to treaties signed between 1882 and 1898 between British colonial authorities and indigenous chiefs of the former Galinas Kingdom, later known as the Krim and Gola territories. These agreements were later ratified in colonial records from 1906 and 1912.
The notice also recognises Amara Siacca Lima (Siacca Yannie), a World War II hero and paramount heir, who was appointed and honoured by British colonial authorities in April 1950. He was acknowledged as both a war hero and a sovereign leader, receiving two distinguished medals.
Succession of the Yannie dynasty is said to have passed through Queen Mother Madam Mariama Yannie to Hon. Amara Lima Yannie, and now to Hon. Lahai Lawrence A. Lima-Yannie Jr, identified as the current heir and successor, also known as Dama Yannie III.
Hon. Lahai Lawrence A. Lima-Yannie Jr, a former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, said the public notice is intended to inform both citizens and relevant authorities that the process of formal recognition and gazetting is now under consideration by the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs.
If approved, the gazetting would formally establish the Dama Yannie Ruling House within Sierra Leone’s traditional governance framework.
