Sierra Leone places temporary ban on FGM ahead of elections

By Kemo Cham

The Sierra Leone government has announced a temporary ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) until after next month’s general elections.

The government said Monday the move was meant to prevent candidates from using the controversial practice to buy votes by paying funding mass initiation ceremonies.

FGM, which is banned by the United Nations, is widely practiced in Sierra Leone which the government has refused to prohibit it.

Over the years the practice has become some sort of a political commodity. Initiation ceremonies are known to spike during election period, funded by politicians who seek the support of the masses.

In Sierra Leone FGM is associated with a women’s secret society called Bondo, which encompasses strongly held cultural and traditional beliefs.

The government also says the ban is in place as it prevents the societies from intimidating people, especially female candidates and their supporters, during campaigning for the March 7 polls.

People seeking office at all levels commonly contribute to FGM ceremonies, which often cost up to $200 with food, music, and the cutter's fee taken into account, said Aminata Koroma, secretary of Sierra Leone's Forum Against Harmful Practices.

With nine in 10 girls cut, Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of FGM in Africa, according to U.N. data, and is one of only a handful of African countries which has not outlawed the internationally condemned practice.

The ritual typically involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia and can cause serious health problems.

The ban is the first of its kind during an election season and applies until March 31, according to Maya Kaikai, Sierra Leone's minister of local government and rural development.

Former minister Turay said she hoped the ban would pave the way for activists to work with the government to stamp out FGM.

But global human rights group Equality Now and aid agency ActionAid, which are both working to eradicate FGM in Sierra Leone, said they did not see the ban as a sign of progress.

"This is just a political move," Felister Gitonga of Equality Now told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It has nothing to do with protecting the rights of women."

Sierra Leone also banned FGM in 2014 during the height of the Ebola crisis amid fears that cutting rituals would exacerbate the spread of the disease. Although the practice dropped off at the time, campaigners say it has since rebounded.

Last month neighboring Liberia banned FGM for a year under an executive order signed by outgoing president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Activists have urged new President George Weah to push for a permanent law against the practice.

On the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), an influential voice of in the women’s secret society in Sierra Leone has threatened to disown an agreement with the government which seeks to discourage underage initiation.

In Sierra Leone FGM is practiced alongside the Bondo Society, which encompasses cultural, traditional and religious aspects of the country’s various ethnic groups. This society is headed by elderly women called Sowies.

FGM is banned by the United Nations General Assembly which is encouraging its member countries to put a stop to the practice. In Sierra Leone, because of its cultural significance, the government has made it clear it won’t ban it. But in 2012 it reached agreements with Sowies and local chiefs in a number chiefdoms, through MoUs which prohibit initiation of underage children, as a compromise.

Mrs Coloneh Sesay, President of the National Sowie Council, was quoted Tuesday accusing the government of reneging on its part of the agreement. And she said if the government failed to act, they will disregard the agreement.

Among their demands are livelihood replacement opportunities. Many families rely on the practice of FGM as source of livelihoods.

Anti-FGM campaigners cite psychological and medical implications on the FGM aspect of it on women and especially girls. There have also been reports of deaths resulting from the practice, mostly among underage girls as a result of bleeding.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the practice violates women’s right to health.

The International Day of Zero Tolerance of FGM was declared by the UN, and it is commemorated every February 6. FGM is also captured in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as target for elimination by 2030.

UN figures show that over 200 million women in the world have undergone the practice, mainly between five and 15 years.

Politics is thought to be a strong underlying factor fueling the FGM practice. In order to win local support, some politicians have been reported sponsoring initiation activities, which campaigners say encourage the initiation of many women and girls. In response to this, the government this week slammed a temporal ban on the practice until after the March 7 elections.

But despite the ban, the pro-FGM campaign is gaining momentum by the day. The ‘Sierra Leone Women Are Free to Choose’, a feminist organization supporting FGM, on Monday declared a week-long campaign of activities geared towards lobbying against efforts to ban the practice. The group, headed by US-based Sierra Leonean researcher, Fuambai Sia Ahmadu, was scheduled to stage a rally in front of the office of the World Health Organisation in Freetown on Tuesday, among other activities later in the week.