PHOTO: Guests including diplomats pose for photo at the launch of the fund drive
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
A female nongovernmental organization in Liberia, the Girls Alliance for Future Leadership, has launched a fund drive aimed at supporting female candidates, ahead of the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
Their key aim is to secure 50 percent balance representation in the House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate in the 2023 polls, as currently in the 30-member Senate there are only two female members.
The alliance Advocacy Officer, Kadiatu Bah said this fund drive is necessary in order to have more females at the national legislature so that they can enact laws to curb the violation of the rights of women and girls in the country.
Miss Bah made the assertion recently at the launch of the fund drive during a dinner organized by the Girls Alliance for Future Leadership attended by heads of diplomatic missions and international nongovernmental organizations in Monrovia during the weekend.
(L-R) Kadiatu Bah, Advocacy Officer and Patricia Davies, Sec General
According to her, some of the challenges facing girls in Liberia are female genital mutilation, rape, sexual abuse of minors, teen age pregnancy, forceful societal initiations, ritualistic killings in some of the victims are girl’s without access to justice.
“Added to that is the Liberian government’s refusal to end the practice of female genital mutilations, a cultural menace that remains the most existential danger to every girl child in Liberia,” she said; “not only that it is harmful to the physical body of girls, it is also a legal window for child bribed and sexual violence against women and girls especially in rural Liberia.”
Miss Bah claimed that some opinion leaders are using cultural rights as a legal window because lawmakers at the Capitol Building have capped female genital mutilation as a sacred cultural rite of their traditional leaders.
“Everyone in Liberia knows that perpetrators of FGM recruit minor females as young as nine-year-old and most of these girls are whisked into marriage immediately after their initiation.”
Speaking at the dinner, the Secretary General of Girl Alliance for Future Leadership, Patricia Davies also appealed to stake holders to tap into the talents of the Liberian girls’ children to help build a new Liberia that will ensure gender balance in the three branches of the Liberian government.
According Miss Davies, women are disproportionately outnumbered by their male counterparts in the three branches of the government.
“To have a wholesome functioning democracy, we need gender balance within the governing structure of the state.”
The group gets diplomatic support
Speaking on behalf of the Swedish Embassy in Monrovia, the Program Officer on Gender, Dwede Tarpeh expressed support for the fight against the challenges facing women and girls in Liberia.
She acknowledged the challenges young women are facing in advocating for their rights in a male dominated society such as Liberia.
Madam Tarpeh expressed optimism in efforts by the members of the Girls Alliance for Future Leadership in their undertakings especially for leadership.
For her part, the Charge D’ Affairs at the British Embassy, Kate Nomson said that Liberia is one of the difficult countries to be a woman in the world at the moment .
She added that the United Kingdom will continue to support the rights of women around the world in order to fulfill their potentials.
“Our campaign over the last 12 years is for quality education for every girl is very important because without education, you cannot know what your rights are and will not be able to advocate for them. I feel that I have seen several future ministers, senators and politicians in some of you; because in the UK, we have come a long way in our feminine struggle and in few day, we are about to get our third female prime minister,” the British diplomat said.
“We have observed that it seems very reluctant for some politicians to guarantee the 30 percent seat to women in the legislature but I think it should be 50 percent.
Kate Nomson added: “The practice of female genital mutilation does not belong in anywhere on this earth and culture should not be an excuse for something like that because it is about keeping women down.”
Also speaking, the head of the Counselor Section at the Ghanaian Embassy, Godwin Mawuli Klu made it clear that the Ghana is against the practice of female genital mutilation.
He encouraged the Girls Alliance for Future Leadership to continue its good work because Ghana supports girls’ education.
Representing the Nigerian Embassy was Esther Ahunche, the head of the Chancery, who assured the alliance of the Nigerian Ambassador support.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Representative of the United Nations Women , Pamela Mkwaba, described the initiatives by the alliance as brilliant and expressed regret that the UN Women has not done much with young women over the years.
“I think that this is the right time for us to start dealing with young women especially on the eve of election year because women know exactly what their challenges are”
She expressed the willingness of the UN Women to work with the alliance because they have all the rights to hold the officials of the government accountable to implement the international protocols giving rights to women.
Statements of support also came from the representatives of the Head of Support Services of the World Food Program, Aaron Sleh and the President of the Press Union of Liberia Charles Cuffey.