Gbandi means a reckoning force or hot. It has two syllables: “Gbaa—ndi,” and the stressed syllabus is “gba.” And the unstressed syllabus “ndi.” Others say, “Baa-ndi,” emphasizing with a soft tone “di” combined with a nasality “n.”
Gbandi is one of Liberia’s 16 original tribes, residing in the upper part of one of the country’s major counties, Lofa. The Gbandi language cannot be located anywhere in the subregion, unlike many Liberian tribal languages spoken in neighboring countries.
According to legend, the Liberian-Gbandi tribe originated from Sudan in the late 17th century when Africa had no borders. Land ownership was settled by conflict, conquest, and migration. It is believed that a subset of the Gbandis migrated to western Liberia and dispersed over two centuries.
The language which defines its tribal existence is synonymous with Mende and Lorma. Interestingly, those two are spoken in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea. The Gbandi has a distinctive register in phonology and syntax, with a distinct nasal tone for certain words requiring proper enunciations.
Before the coming of the settlers, previously enslaved people from America and Britain to what is now Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Gbandi tribe traded salt and other goods across the land with their neighbors: the Mende, Lorma, and Kissi tribes.
The Gbandis are a hardworking and ambitious people. Before the Liberian civil war, the Kolahun district, home of the Gbandis, developed a farmer cooperative that became Liberia’s most prolific and flourishing farmers’ cooperative. The Kolahun Health Center grew to become one of Western Liberia’s premier referral hospitals.
Over the years, the Gbandi tribe has produced highly educated Liberians who weighed in on national policy decisions in government: MambuluVonjo, Jusu Dunor, Thomas Kollie, MbalamoiYallah, Kpangbala, Sekou Dudu, Fofie Gbandoma, Boakai Konneh, Joseph Nyandibo, to name a few.
The Gbandi tribe continues to spawn Western-educated individuals from all academic disciplines, many of whom have contributed to the growth and development of modern Liberia.
Gbandi is a unique language woven in proverbs, poems, dialectical rhythm with subtlety and style, and folklore. Yet, some of its Western-educated daughters and sons, who know how to speak the language, eschew speaking it for fear of being viewed as traditional in a glaring miasma of ignorance and mental poverty.
On the other hand, those who brace for speaking the Gbandi language create a sense of pride and belonging to what they can authentically refer to as theirs. No Westerners, mainly white people, can sneer at them for speaking with an accent. “Baa ndeeyatee ahwu sei, ah wuva ai” (Gbandi people, thank you and welcome!)