By Alagie Manneh
A two-year-old girl from Somita village in Foni Brefet was recently subjected to female circumcision despite a 2015 law banning the practice.
According to police sources, one Mai Tamba, believed to be the grandmother of the victim, took the girl for cutting with the consent of the girl’s mother.
When the father found out a few days later, he reported the matter at Somita Police Post which referred the case to Sibanor Police Station.
The matter is now being investigated by the crimes unit at the police headquarters.
Meanwhile, The Standard has learnt that the father regretted reporting the matter and now wants the case to be muted.
“We told him the case cannot be withdrawn. That can only be done at the courts,” a senior police officer who is familiar with the case told The Standard.
The national coordinator of the Child Protection Alliance, Lamin Fatty, said “any person who is practicing FGM should be arrested”.
Since the enactment of the law prohibiting FGM, no single case has been prosecuted in the country, he said.
“CPA will continuously express its frustration when it comes to law enforcement in this country. Laws must be fully enforced. CPA calls on the state to enforce laws banning FGM,” Fatty said.
According to ’28 Too Many’, a values-based charity working to end the harmful practice, the prevalence of FGM in women aged 15–49 is 74.9 percent in The Gambia.
