(Issued Monday 21 January 2020)
Stray dogs of Garawol in the Kantora District, Upper River Region (URR) were found eating an unwanted child, The Point can authoritatively report.
The
incident was reported to have occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning.
A source who is familiar with matter told our reporter that the mother of the
newly born-baby has been identified but she is currently at large as police
have mounted a search for her.
Our
source said: “One Bilal Trawally who was coming from early morning prayers saw
the stray dogs eating the baby. He decided to go and see what the stray dogs
were eating and only to realise that it was a human being.”
Mr.
Trawally, our source explained, decided to report the matter to the Garawol
Village Development Committee who later informed the police. “The police were
later informed about the incident. Marathon search was conducted within the
village, but the lady escaped during the process,” our source said.
Lamin
K. Saidy, a child protection advocate, reacting to this development, condemns
the act in its strongest term. He described it as “inhuman,” saying that such
kind of incidents are “alarming” in the country and is a big concern to child
protection advocates.
“We
are very concerned about such kind of incidents and it requires high degree of
advocacy. I think there’s absolutely need for one to conduct assessments on why
we’re having such kind of incidents because it’s surfacing in the country
again.”
According
to him, there should be lot of advocacy that should be conducted in the country
in order to stamp out the menace in our society. “We also need to put strong
measures in place in ensuring that perpetrators are punished. Again, there’re
other underlining factors that are contributing to the menace which needed to
be also addressed.”
Sometimes,
he said, the way and manner these girls get pregnant is a concern, saying “who
knows that whether sometimes they are being impregnated by their own uncles or
someone else. So the best thing they do perhaps is to abandon those babies as
they don’t want to leave with them in the same society. May be they think the
society will not trust them when they’re impregnated by their own parents.”
As
child protection actors, he added, they are doing everything possible in
ensuring that they raise awareness on these issues around our communities.
“Our
adolescent girls also need to be taught. We hardly discuss on the issue of
family planning. When you talk about it people think we’re spoiling our
children. But I believe if the person knows how to protect herself it will be
good. The state needs to take legislative measures as part of their
international commitment towards the protection of children.”
