Senior members of the female Bondo secret society in Sierra Leone are in desperate search for a young lady Konah Kassim Tejan Savage of No. 91K Main Motor Road, Congo Town who has been accused of flouting their secret society laws and regulations.
Being a non-member of the secret society, Konah is said to have violently, disrespectfully and illegally entered the ‘Bondo’ bush where her daughter had been forcefully taken by ‘Soweis’ for initiation against her will.
Konah is reported to have taken her children to her great grandma at Six Mile at the outskirt of the capital, Freetown on vacation.
According to report, few weeks later after she had returned to Freetown, a friend of her called her on August 15, 2023 and informed her that ‘Sowies’ in the village have forcefully conscripted her three years old daughter to ‘bondo’ bush for initiation.
‘Sowies’ are senior members of ‘Bondo’ society who specifically perform circumcision (removal of the genital part) of recruits, a practice which is now been widely condemned by human rights activists and religious bodies as a human rights violation as well contravention of moral and religious practices.
Report says when Konah went back to Six Mile, she pleaded with the ‘Sowies’ to release her daughter with the promise that when her daughter reaches the age of consent, she will join the society if she so desires. But her plea is said to have fallen into deaf ears more so when she informed the desperate members that she is not a ‘bondo’ member herself.
The ‘Sowies’ nonchalant behavior reportedly angered young Konah who dashed straight into the ‘bondo’ bush to rescue her daughter. Reports have it that Konah fought the members she met in the bush before finally rescuing her daughter and took her straight to Freetown for safety.
According to information from the Six Mile suburb, the desperate ‘bondo’ members immediately went in search of Konah and her daughter accusing her to have breached their rules by unlawfully entering their sanctuary as a non-member. “We are going to look out for her everywhere in this country and deal with her according to our own society law,” a senior member is quoted to have vowed, insisting that they have never let go anyone who breaks their rules to go scot-free.
When they discovered that Konah had escaped with her daughter to Freetown, they followed her to know her address at Congo Town. When they failed in their bid to apprehend Konah, an anxious onlooker said, the angry ‘bondo’ members violently vandalized her home, destroying everything they could lay hands on.
Before they left, they publicly declared their victim, Konah is wanted for disrespecting their society rules. According to reliable sources, Konah is currently in hiding for her safety and doesn’t know the whereabouts of her children too.