December 13, 2021
By Aruna Kamara (BO)
The Town Chief at Ngalu in Babwe Chiefdom in Bo District has said that he is committed to seeing that the children in his chiefdom maximize their potentials of becoming educated and a fine of five hundred thousand Leones will be levied against anybody caught in the act of sexual penetration against the girls.
Chief A.P Samai told his audience at the 16 Days activism at Ngalu Babwe that his town and by extension the chiefdom have bye laws that speak against sexual and gender base violence and cannot be compromised.
He added that to show commitment to end violence against the women and girls, any person caught compromising with sexual abuses cases will be fined to the tune of one million Leones. These fines for sexual penetration that is compromised are levied and we can also ensure that the cases are reported to the police for court action.
Chief Samai said that they are also begging for scholarship to be given to our children to complete their education to university level as we want to get more educated women in the chiefdom. More communities should be brought on board by WAVES to ensure that they benefit from the good intervention of the organization.
The Youth Leader of Ngalu, Momoh Samai said it is good for the children to treat their education with the seriousness it deserves and made commitment that they will work with the chief to ensure that the children at Ngalu do not become victims of sexual exploitation.
The women’s leader in Ngalu Bagwe Chiefdom said that the mothers should make sure that there children are well taken care of and they should not give them into marriage until they complete their education.
The Principal of Babwe Secondary School, Lawrence Kowa said that the book should the friends of the school going children and that they are trying their best to ensure that the children are educated, adding that they have suggestion Box in school where the children can report any sexual abuse against them.
He called on the mentors of the children trained by WAVES- Sierra Leones to be part of the school to ensure that they monitor the suggestion box so that they will know the content of the box and for action to be taken.
The Director of WAVES- Sierra Leone, Hannah Yambasu said ‘’ Ending violence against the women and girls is the main focus of her organization and called on the parents to ensure that the space of the children are protected to ensure that they are educated.
He said that she will look into the concerns of the stakeholders to add to the number of communities where they are operating at Ngalu in Bagbwe chiefdom in Bo District.