Imam Baba Leigh has taken a swipe at religious leaders defending female genital mutilation, asking where were they when Jammeh criminalised the traditional practice in the country.

According to Imam Baba Leigh, FGM is not a religious act for one to be inflicting such practice on innocent women and girls.

“In fact, FGM was not ban in Barrow’s government rather it was ban by a government when my fellow Imams who are defending the practice were here. What stopped them from speaking against the ban? They were all silent. None of them speak then.

“You will get surprised if you’re listening to the sermons now. Some even have gone to an extent that reciting the Qur’an during marriage, naming and funeral ceremony is forbidden. And those are the people who were reciting the Qur’an during Jammeh‘s times. Some of them have no moral authority to preach moral lessons in the country,” he said.

The imam added: “FGM is not religious, even those saying it’s religious know that they are making mistake. I disagree with them because if the practice was religious then all Muslim countries would have been practicing it. In fact, if the medical doctors have come up with empirical evidence about its goodness then we would have maintained silence about it.”

Imam Leigh was speaking yesterday (18 February) at the National dialogue with political party leaders at the International Conference Centre in Bijilo. 

His intervention came as some National Assembly members are preparing to table a bill in order to decriminalise FGM in the country. 

The move has been widely denounced by Gambian women rights activists.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba