By Adama Makasuba
Almamy Gibba, the national assembly member for Foni Kansala, along with seven others, has brought a case before the Supreme Court aiming to decriminalize the practice of female circumcision. This legal action follows the rejection of a private member bill in parliament, which sought to legalize female circumcision.
The individuals and groups involved in the case are Almamy Gibba, Yassin Fatty, Nano Jawla, Kadijatou Jallow, Concerned Citizens, Islamic Enlightenment Society, Women’s Association for Islamic Solidarity, and Gambian Women are Free to Choose. Yassin, Nano, and Kadijatou, who hail from Kuntaur in the Central River Region, were convicted by the Kaur Magistrate’s Court for their involvement in the practice of female circumcision.
The individuals and organizations mentioned above are petitioning the Supreme Court to declare that the amendment of Section 32 of the Women’s Act of 2010 and the introduction of new Sections 32A and 32B in the Women’s (Amendment) Act (Act Number 11 of 2015), which prohibits the practice of female circumcision, are contradictory to the 1997 Constitution of the Gambia. They argue that these changes are inconsistent with Sections 17(1) and (2), 25(1)(c), 28(1) and (2), 32, and 33(2) and (3) of the 1997 Constitution, and therefore should be deemed ultra vires, null, and void.
They are appealing to the highest court to invalidate Sections 32A and 32B of the Women’s (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2015 from the Women’s Act of 2010, leaving only Section 32 of the original provision of the Women’s Act of 2010 in place. Almamy Gibba informed the court, “The introduction of these sections to the Women’s Act of 2010 criminalized the practice of female circumcision in The Gambia, effectively preventing women and girls from engaging in gender-inclusive religious expression and cultural traditions.”
The law prohibiting female circumcision in The Gambia is inherently biased against women, especially Muslim women, and violates several provisions of the Constitution, Almamy Said.
