By Ragan M Conteh

The Minister of Social Welfare, Mohamed Haji Kellah, says the President has ordered an investigation to be speed up on the loss of lives of some young female FGM girls.

Kellah told a mammoth crowd of students, civil and public servants including CSOs and ‘soweis’ ( Bondo principal initiators) during the observation of the International Zero Tolerance Day on FGM.

He said that President Julius Maada Bio had instructed the Chief Minister to investigate all FGM related killings which recently happened in northwest region.

The President has also ordered the Internal Affairs minister to make sure he gets rid of those believe to have perpetuated such killings in the name of secret society.

In a public notice from the Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, MGCA notes with grave concern the reported deaths of the three female children in Kabalor and Bubuya (Tonko Limba chiefdom) in Kambia district and Tainkatopa chiefdom in Port Loko district.

They died as a consequence of initiation into a rite of passage linked to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) of the Bondo secret society.

According to the notice, it says the ministry deeply regrets the unfortunate loss of the lives of the victims and so it commiserates with the bereaved families.

The ministry further said that it is effectively collaborating with law enforcement agencies to ensure safety and protection of children from harm and to prevent a reoccurrence of the unfortunate episode.

The ministry, however, wishes to assure families of the deceased and the general public that justice will be appropriately served on the matter at hand and the perpetrators will be punished

accordingly.

The ministry further reiterates government’s commitment to the protection and promotion of the rights of children as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child(UNCRC) and other related instruments including the prohibition against practices that are harmful to children’s health, to their social and economic well-being.

The ministry has also reaffirmed government’s commitment to ensuring that children across all ages and sex are protected from abuses of all forms.

In that regard, the government is in the process of reviewing The Child Rights’

Act of 2007 to further strengthen provisions that relate to the protection

of children against harmful practices including the imposition of banning of

underage girls’ rite of passage (female genital mutilation), early child marriage, child cruelty and torture among others.