By Ousman Saidykhan

National Assembly Member for Foni Kansala, Hon. Almameh Gibba, and seven others, including three individuals and four associations, have filed a lawsuit at the Supreme Court challenging the Constitutionality of Sections 32A and 32B of the Women’s Amendment Act, 2015, which banned the practice of female circumcision.  

Almamy Gibba, Yassin Fatty, Nano Jawla, Kaddijatou Jallow, Concerned Citizens, Islamic Enlightenment Society, Women’s Association For Islamic Solidarity, Gambian Women Are Free To Choose believe the sections are not consistent with the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia and Seek the Court to declare them unconstitutional. 

The Plaintiffs seek: “A declaration from the Supreme Court that the amendment to Section 32 of the Women’s Act of 2010 and the insertion of new Sections 32A and 32B by the Women’s (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2015, which prohibits female circumcision 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 in contravention of Section 4 of the Constitution of The Gambia, 1997, making them ultra vires, null, and void.”

They also want the Supreme Court to issue an order for the striking of Sections 32A and 32B from the Women’s (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2015; and also a declaration that the National Assembly’s passing of the Women’s (Amendment) Act No. 11 of 2015, was done on excess of its legislative authority, therefore void, and of no effect from the time it came into force for being inconsistent with Sections 17 (1) and (2), 25 (1) (c), 28 (1) and (2), 32, and 33 (2) and (3) of the 1997 Constitution.

Section 32A criminalizes female circumcision and places a punishment of up to three years imprisonment and or a fine of fifty thousand (D50,000) for anyone who engages in the act.

Section 32B provides for the same punishment for anyone found to be an accomplice to female circumcision.

The anti-FGM law was enacted in 2015, but the first convictions under the law, three women, came almost a decade later, in August 2023. The women were fined D15,000 each for carrying out FGM, but a famous Islamic scholar, Imam Fatty, paid the fines for them.

The three women, Yassin Fatty, Nano Jawla, and Kaddijatou Jallow, are the second, third, and fourth plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

FGM became one of the most controversial topics after the women were convicted. Anti-FGM campaigners believe it is a rights violation of women and girls, while some supporters of FGM say the ban prohibits them from practicing their cultural and religious rights.

Hon. Gibba, the independent lawmaker who introduced a bill to repeal the ban, has not given up even after Parliament rejected the bill.

He is now leading a group to challenge the sections that criminalize what they believe is a cultural and religious practice.

“In conclusion, we submit that the plaintiffs’ case has merits, and it will be fair in the interest of justice that this Court, being the beacon of last hope, enter judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs and declare the provisions of the Women’s (Amendment) Act 2015 as unconstitutional and of no effect whatsoever for all the reasons canvassed hereinbefore,” the plaintiffs said in their statement of claim.