This chiefdom traces its ancestry to a hunter named Kinnei Kandovo, who is said to have migrated from present day Kono district, to the east.

He came with his brother, Kena Gutu (meaning ’short man’ in the Mende language).

In 1995, he fled the chiefdom after an RUF attack on nearby Gerihun, only to return in 2001.

Compulsory labor on his farms is still reported to be common place in the chiefdom.

[2] This family, based in the town of Njama Qui, is thought to be indigenous to the area, or at least to have settled before Kinneis arrival.