Parliament is right; First Lady is wrong : There is no law against FGM in Sierra Leone

DO NOT BLAME PARLIAMENT FOR THE STATEMENT : IT IS TRUE . There is no law against Bondo in Sierra Leone

By Kabs Kanu

The Sierra Leone Parliamentary statement was shocking in the light of the 2012 UN Resolutions we approved , but it was actually true. There is no law against FGM for women of all ages in Sierra Leone .

The only omission of duty by Parliament was that it failed to inform the public that Sierra Leone has not enacted a national statutory ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) for minors and that while an outright prohibition for under-18s was drafted in the Child Rights Act, Parliament removed this specific provision when passing the law.

Parliament should have made it clear that there is no criminal law against FGM, but In the absence of this, hundreds of communities and paramount chiefs across districts (such as Kambia and Port Loko) have signed voluntary Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) banning FGM for girls under 18 and requiring consent for adults.

The problem Parliament should be blamed for is removing prohibitions for under – 18s while reenacting the drafted Child Rights Act. But we all know that Parliament acted from orders above.

Bondo is a hot button political issue in Sierra Leone and it has the capacity of having a ruling government lose elections in Sierra Leone . Over 95 % of Sierra Leonean women have been initiated into the Bondo society and they consider the society sacred and upholding cultural values left behind by their ancestors.

Because majority of Sierra Leonean women are passionate about Bondo, an outright ban on it by any sitting government will incur the displeasure of women and their annoyance will translate into denying that government their votes during elections.