By Alieu Jallow
Dr. Fuambai Sia Ahmadu, founder of Gambian Women Are Free to Choose (GWAFC), urged Gambian women to hold National Assembly Members accountable for their votes on the Women Amendment Bill 2024, which seeks to uphold the ban on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C).
“We have to hold our National Assembly Members to account. Any National Assembly Member who votes to uphold the ban to throw our mothers and grandmothers in jail has to be accountable to their constituency.
“Their constituency has to know that they voted to jail the mothers, grandmothers and women of [their] community for upholding a practice that others around the world are holding with no criminalization,” Ahmadu said.
Dr. Sia Ahamdu emphasized their unwavering commitment to raising awareness about women’s Constitutional rights. She also mentioned providing legal representation for any woman found in violation of the laws.
“We will be there to provide the resources to the best of our ability to make sure to have the best kind of defence. We will continue to push this into the court in the Gambia and after going to the court in the Gambia, if necessary, we will go to the regional ECOWAS human rights court.
If that doesn’t work, we will go to the Hague, the International Court of justice, but we are not going to end [until we] ensure that African women and Muslim women who uphold circumcision have the same rights as men in this world to Uphold men circumcision” she added.
She urged parliamentarians to listen to their constituencies, as they are the ones who voted them into power. She also emphasized that they should ignore political pressure and remember the sanctity of women’s bodies, who gave birth to them, are married to them, and are their daughters.
