Religious interests 'sidelined' at constitutional review

The ongoing review of Sierra Leone`s constitution, it seems, will never be free from controversies.
From the onset, the process has been beset by all sorts of issues. If it`s not insufficient funding, it would be claims of alleged political interference. And now, religious leaders have joined the fray, with
scholars from both the Christian and Muslim communities raising concerns over the representation of religious interests. They argue that being a highly religious nation, whatever laws that govern the country should take into account certain religious values.
The Council of Churches Sierra Leone (CCSL) claims no one has told them

who had been selected to represent Christians, while a Muslim scholar who spoke on condition of anonymity questioned the competence of the Muslim representative.
The website of the Constitutional Review Committee (CRC) lists only two "handpicked" people from the Inter Religious Council (IRC) as representing the country`s diverse religious communities. They are academic Professor Babtunde Kareem (Muslim) and Rev John D Tarawali (Christian). But Rev Tarawali was later replaced with Rev. Osman Fornah of the Wesleyan Church of Sierra Leone, according to official sources. Both men are executive members of the IRC.
"As a leading member of the CCSL, if Reverend Fornah had been selected to represent us, he would no doubt have informed us," said Solomon Campbell, Human Resources and Administrative Manager, CCSL.
Campbell said they have a lot of concerns and didn`t know through whom to forward them. "This is a serious issue and at every forum we have raised it."

Borrowed values
In the early stages of the Constitutional review process, gender activists were noticeably vocal over the level of female representation in the CRC, citing the numerous issues affecting the women folks in society as warranting a correspondingly robust representation.
But politicians dismissed those arguments with promises that the process had been set up in such a way that everyone would have the opportunity to add their voice to the final document.
A couple of months ago, a group of young Muslim women took to the streets in  Freetown calling attention to their rights to dress in the Hijab, inline with the Islamic teaching. Those women want their concerns to be reflected in the new constitution and were concerned about the competence of their representation.
Their 'Hijab Movement' has been growing in momentum and one of its supporters is Imam Sheikh Alie Kallay who said even though Sierra Leone was secular, they felt as Muslims they had the right to practice their religion unhindered.
Kallay said this can only be guaranteed by the taken the views of the
people into consideration.
"The Constitution is prepared by people and will deal with people. So, its contents must be in conformity with activities of people."
Sheikh Kallay also cited government`s clampdown on early marriage as a major concern for the Islamic community. He said while they were against abuse of children, they were also concerned that government`s approach was such that it focused too much on child marriage at the
 expense of other equally important societal issues.
In his view, sex outside wedlock was of equal significance as early marriage.
The Sheikh said the 'Tap-to-me' (man and a woman living together without marriage) phenomenon was growing and could spell negative effect on the nation.
"Equal attention should be on both [tap-to-me' and early marriage].
Otherwise we will have a lot of illegitimate children and it is a curse on the country."
Sheikh Kallay is also concerned by the increasing influence of borrowed values on religious and cultural traditions which he observed has seen many foreign values "imposed" on developing countries.
"If they allow gays to operate, they should also allow all to operate."

Fears of religious extremism
For the Christians, the worrying phenomenon of global terror and the need to sustain Sierra Leone`s "unmatched" culture of religious tolerance mean religion should play a crucial part in any decision making as far as reviewing the constitution is concerned.
And as such, contends Solomon Campbell, who is also in charge of Ecumenical Relations at the CCSL, this should have been considered in constituting the representations at the review committee.
However, Mohamed Faray Kargbo, Head of Communications and Outreach at the CRC, said representation at the Committee was determined by the Justice Ministry.
Information available on the Committee`s website revealed that the highest single representations are from the country`s two main political parties - APC and SLPP - which each has six representatives.
All other political parties have three each, and other non-political groups and individuals represented by one, two or three representatives.
"The Justice Ministry identified institutions and it is those institutions which chose their representatives," Kargbo said.
And while stressing that they (CRC) do not have a say in who is in the committee, the Communications officer said stressed that citizens had the responsibility to speak out when they think their representatives were not serving them well.
When contacted, Professor Babatounde Kareem said he was not representing the Muslim community. As far as he was concerned, he was representing the Inter Religious Council.
This, however, runs counter to what the President of the Council said.
Imam Sheikh Abubacarr Conteh defended the selection of both Professor
Kareem and Rev. Fornah, although he would not explain how they`d
reached their selection.

Elitism and political influence
While there is no expressed opposition to Rev. Fornah`s representation from Christians, Professor Kareem is being cried down by his constituency for not being a religious scholar. His critics say he is not versed enough on religious matters and so could not ably represent Muslim interests in such an important committee.
Initially, officials had announced that the CRC would comprise 80 members, but the websites lists 86. Mohamed Faray Kargbo said the decision to increase the representation was taken lately.
There is there the concern that only two people were not enough to represent religious interests in a committee of this magnitude.
"We are not thinking of quantity but quality," countered Sheikh Abubacarr Conteh.
But although admitting that Professor Kareem was not a religious scholar, the IRC President said as a Muslim and a good researcher with lots of Islamic journals to his name, the academician was good for the task.
Prof. Karrem is a scientist, specifically a Botanist by training. But because he comes from a respected Muslim religious background, his work in promoting the Islamic religion has made him stand out among his peers. He is notably credited for advocating for the use of the
Hijab by female Muslim students at the Forah Bay College where some administrative authorities up to this day are thought to be far less happy by the sight of female students donning the veil.
Concerns over the selection of the Inter Religious Council members to serve in the Constitutional review committee are also partly premised on claims that the former was being used by the government as a tool to attain certain political goals.
The IRC in its current form was founded during the war era and it played a major role in ending the conflict and has been at the forefront of efforts in consolidating the prevailing peace.
However, successive governments have over the years viewed and treated it as the umbrella body of all religious groups in the country, a view no liked by some Muslims who spoke to me.
The Council members are accused of taking an elitists disposition and for always seeking to stay away from a collision course with politicians, hence giving a blind eye even at the display of the excesses of the powers that be.
IRC President Imam Abubacarr Conteh would not have any of these accusations, insisting that the Council was neutral.
And, he assured, this neutrality won`t allow them to compromise as far as their roles in defending religious values were concerned.
"Fortunately, in our country we don't have any Free Thinkers. All of those in the CRC are either Muslims or Christians," he says, stressing that no matter who was selected to serve, religious values were guaranteed protection.