BINTUMANI  III : MARIAM MAFOH SAMAI’S EMANCIPATION

Mariam was nominated by BBC for Good Girls Around The World Award in 2015 and this led to renowned Umaru Fofanah’s visit to The Annie Walsh Memorial School in 2015 to do a documentary on Mariam’s life.

Her first advocacy experience was with Children’s Forum Network where she was groomed into a girl of substance.

Mariam has been a part of several renowned programs such as:

• The First Lady’s National Girls Camp (2014/15/16)

• Children’s platform at United Nations General Assembly (USA)

• Media programs at  AYV ( with Ms. Princetta Williams),

• Star Radio and other media houses across Freetown

On a daily basis, she champions advocacy on Child Marriage, Sexual Abuse, Child Abuse, Teenage Pregnancy etc. She is well recognized by Her Excellency Mrs. Sia Nyama Koroma, Plan International, UNICEF, Save The Children, Teenage Pregnancy Secretariat, Advocacy Movement Network etc.

  Fun Fact about Mariam: She can sing and dance  sweet abandon.

Mariam is on a mission:  ‘I like to advocate for people especially children as I believe in them and advocating on their behalf gives me great joy’.

Her vision is to empower the  kids of Sierra Leone , to create a Sierra Leone that will be accommodating and child friendly.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION.* PLEASE FIND MARIAM SAMAI’S STATMENT*

CHILDREN’S STATEMENT AND POSITION PAPER

ON BINTUMANI III CONFERENCE FOR NATIONAL PEACE AND COHESION

                                                                                                                       Date: 23^rd May 2019

Mr. Chairman

Your Excellency, Rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone

The Hon. Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone

The Children of Sierra Leone

Hon. Members of Parliaments

Cabinet Ministers

Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps

Fellow Sierra Leoneans

As I observe all other protocols, I bring you greetings from the children of our beloved country. The children of Sierra Leone are delighted to be represented in this all important occasion in order to chat the way forward for a peaceful and cohesive Nation.

Mr. Chairman, your Excellency, on Wednesday 22^nd May, 2019, the children of this country converged at the St. Edwards Caritas Hall, Kingtom in Freetown for a consultative meeting on the children’s view for a lasting peace in the country and the establishment of a Peace and Cohesion Commission.

Mr. Chairman, your Excellency, the need for a lasting peace and the establishment of a Peace and Cohesive Commission will be of more importance to the children of this country than any other category of people. The reasons for this are obvious giving the fact of the following;

1. During crises and conflict it is the children that suffer most
2. Children are vulnerable and they rely on adults for their sustenance and protection
3. Children often suffer abuse from adults

Mr. Chairman, I want to say thank you to His Excellency, the President for his free quality education initiative, his intention to expand the free health care services to include more children and his tough stance against perpetrators of sexual violence against women and children. This is a great step towards ensuring the welfare and protection of children in the country.

However, Mr. Chairman, Your Excellency, I also hasten to inform Sierra Leoneans and all of us that more needs to be done to ensure the welfare and protection of children because the peace and stability of this country has a great nexus to child welfare and child protection.

As I speak to you even with the free education initiative by his Excellency, we still have thousands of children especially in rural areas without proper access to education and school materials, children have not been given the opportunity to participate on issues affecting them, we still have street children, high rate of child prostitution, and child trading, Children in most parts of the country don’t have access to proper health care facilities, we have more children also being caught up in the justices system without proper thereby suffering injustice. There is child labor, child trafficking, and other cruelty being perpetrated against children in the country. The above mentioned situations are even worse for children with disability and teenage mothers.

Therefore, we the children have come up with a position paper during the children’s conference on what we think we should do as Sierra Leonean from the Children’s point of view for an everlasting peace in the country and the establishment of a peace and commission. We recommend that the commissioners and staff of the commission should not be chosen on political and tribal lines, there should be a child commissioner and children should be represented in all levels in the commission. The Commission should have a mandate to ensure lasting peace and stability in the country. Child Protection Organizations, Civil Societies should also be part of the Commission, the Commission should be decentralized across Districts and regions in the country,   and people from all facet of life should also be represented in the commission. The Ministry of Social Welfare should be represented in the commission in order to seek the welfare and protection of everyone.

This Position Paper was discussed by us children and further developed four (4) thematic areas in detail on how our Mama Sierra Leone can grow to the higher heights in sustainable development, peace and unity, and also how our issues should addressed accordingly.

These were:

1. Corruption
2. Structure of the Commission
3. Mandate of the Commission
4. Child Welfare – what do we want to see for ourselves

These key topics were rigorously deliberated as our concerns to the road map in attaining national peace and cohesion as follow below:

1. Corruption (Prevention)

• Stop corruption in schools
• Improve on better salaries and working condition for all workers
• People with corrupt background should not work in the commission
• The proposed Commission i.e. (the Independent Commission for Peace and National Cohesion) should be nonpolitical, nontribal, and a corrupt free institution.

The causes of corruption that have eaten in the fabric of our beloved country were also highlighted by we the children as:

• Poor condition of service
• Lack of self-discipline
• Use of public offices for self-aggrandizement and embezzlement of public funds to the detriment of us children and the country as a whole.
• Tribalism and favoritism

Meanwhile, we were also able to bring out some of the key recommendations that will combat corruption in our country as mentioned below:

• Pay workers well and satisfactory
• Implementation of laws and punish law breakers in all aspects
• Jobs should be given to people who deserve it by qualification.
• Above all, Stakeholders from different works of life should lead by examples.

2. The structure of the Commission
3. Our recommendation for the structure of the commission should compose five (5) Executive Commissioners as mentioned below:
4. Religious Leader
5. Human Rights Activist

• Peace Ambassador with neutral (non-political) background

1. A child activist Commissioner
2. There should also be Ordinary literate role model

1. We should have District, Regional, and National Offices.

1. We should have the following Departments:

• Child’s Peace and Unity
• Citizens’ Rights
• Protect, Educate, and promote peace on youth issues
• Promote and protect peace on Gender issues
• Child representatives in all sub offices in the Regions and the Districts.
• Grievance Settlement Department
• Planning and Program Department
• Alternative Dispute Department

1. It important to note the Commission cannot succeed without Board of Commissioners as mentioned below:

• Tribal Heads
• Religious Leaders
• Women’s group
• Children

3. Mandate of the Commission

• To ensure that there exist a sustainable peace and unity among young people
• To ensure that children and young people are always given the opportunity to participate in dialogue and decision making programs
• To also ensure that there is a prevailing equality among children and young people. Even the Commission should be political tolerance.
• The Commission should advocate for young people to have scholarships to study peace and conflict; including the provision of basic needs such as education, food, shelter, medical, clothing, and the rights to participate in all decision making process.
• To always address the issues of discrimination, tribalism, and corruption for sustainable development.

4. Child Welfare

The Commission in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children’s Affairs should:

• Investigate and address child welfare issues.
• Be child friendly and promote child justice
• Enforce the implementation of the Child Rights Act
• Eradicate corporal punishment
• Ensure that children participate and be represented in the commission
• Protect the rights of children from conflict and crisis.

Therefore, I want to urge our Government of the New Direction in collaboration with all stakeholdersto kindly look into the recommendations and address the issues that are seriously affecting us in our daily activities for sustainable peace, unity and cohesion.

Once more I thank you all for given me audience. I thank you all and I wish all of us a fruitful deliberation.