By Ramatoulie Jawo
Hon. Lamin Ceesay, National Assembly Member for Kiang West constituency, expressed his stance against enacting legislation that he said would lead to the arrest and prosecution of those who elected him, including his community elders.
During a contentious debate on the Women’s Amendment Bill at the National Assembly, aimed at addressing the ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Hon. Ceesay emphasized his commitment to upholding the interests of his constituents. He declared that he would rather resign from his parliamentary position than endorse a law that could potentially target his own family members.
“My actions in this parliament will never arrest and prosecute my electorates who brought me here; let me resign from this parliament today rather than enact a law that will go and arrest my mother, that will go and arrest my father. Anything that we do here as parliament, we do it to be consistent with the law,” he said.
He emphasized the importance of legislative coherence with the existing legal framework, highlighting concerns about the FGM ban contradicting national laws and impinging on the religious and cultural practices of the Muslim community.
“If we have a law, whether it is discriminatory by the constitution or not, if we have a law that discriminates more than 75% of the population of your country, that is a bad law in any country you go to. Whether it’s religious, cultural, or whatever, any provision that discriminates against 75% of the population of that country is a bad law,” Hon. Ceesay said.
Addressing assertions regarding the religious aspect of Female Circumcision, he challenged critics to revisit their understanding.
“We asked them to give us evidence of one girl child who had gone into labor and had health complications because of female circumcision. I am not talking about female genital mutilation, but about female circumcision, as advised by the prophet. You give me that one right now; I swear I will leave this course and say, let’s ban it right now,” he said.
Despite years of advocacy from activists, Ceesay maintained that there remains a lack of substantial evidence regarding the negative impacts of Female Circumcision, further fuelling his scepticism towards endorsing restrictive legislation.