The President of the Inter Religious Council in Sierra Leone (IRCSL) Rev. Tamba Charles has in a recent press release discredited a post on the website of the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MICoE) website which appears to suggest that the Council has accommodated the proposed modifications to the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Healthcare Act 2024.
According to the release, it was said that the Government has accommodated religious sensibilities, a statement which the Rev. Tamba Charles discredited and dismissed, describing it as “false”.
“I have not yet made any public statement on the proposed modifications to the Bill,” Rev. Tamba Charles affirmed.
According to the release, in a meeting held on 2nd January, 2025 in Parliament, both representatives of religious entities and the Minister of Information and Civic Education and the Deputy Minister II of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation were in attendance and it was chaired by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Legislative Committee, Hon. Suliaman Marray Conteh.
During the meeting, according to the release, a suggestion was made by the religious leaders to have access to the proposed modifications to the Bill, which according to him, was made available on Friday, 3rd January 2025, adding that he immediately posted it to all the Executive Members of the Interreligious Council Sierra Leone and other religious leaders.
According to release, they are presently studying it and that they shall meet soon to prepare their collective response to the said modifications.
“Until that is done, it would be improper for me to declare, as claimed by the statement on the website of the Ministry of Information, that the Government has accommodated religious sensibilities,” Rev. Tamba Charles asserted.
Eventually, the Council has advised Sierra Leoneans to dismiss the statement on the Ministry’s website as false and that it does not represent the Council’s position on the said Bill titled: “Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Healthcare Act of 2024”.