Magdalene Koroma, Founder and Director of Generation Plus
The Founder and Director of Generation Plus (GenPlus); Magdalene Koroma, has bemoaned Sierra Leone’s justice system for not making the fight against Sexual and Gender Violence (SGBV) a winnable one.
Ms Koroma who was speaking to this press after her return from Sierra Leone to the United States of America, where she is based, described SGBV as a ‘silent killer and destroyer of destiny’. While in the country, Ms. Koroma took some time off to interact with victims and law enforcement agencies in the western area and Southeast to get firsthand experience on the subject matter. During this process, Ms. Koroma disclosed that she was very much disappointed at the surge in the number of victims of SGBV, who go without getting the required justice they seek, while hundreds of them continue to suffer in silence.
According to Koroma, Sierra Leone is among countries in the subregion with the highest number of SGBV cases, and tackling this poor situation would require a collective effort from all and sundry. She maintained that SGBV cases are underreported in Sierra Leone, especially in the provincial towns, because either victims don’t get the justice they seek, or society will discriminate against victims or marginalize them.
It is against this backdrop that Madam Koroma has registered a Non-Governmental Organization/civil society organization; Generation Plus, to help in curbing what she described as a ‘societal menace’. Unlike others, Madam Koroma further disclosed that GenPlus will operate mainly in the provinces of Sierra Leone, where she said most perpetrators of SGBV go unpunished. There are lots of NGOs in the country, but most of them are scrambling in the capital; Freetown, leaving the bulk of victims at the mercy of their predators.
“In Sierra Leone, the poor hardly get justice, more so when justice dispensation is skewed towards the rich, the well-placed and highly connected people. This is why our sisters and children are abused in the country, but perpetrators go scot-free. Impunity and a dysfunctional justice system are not adequately protecting victims” she lamented.
She added that what is more concerning is that the police, who are charged with the responsibility of investigating cases of SGBV, are not well-capacitated, and lack the required resources to carry out this mandate effectively and efficiently. During her interaction with the Police, they averred that they sometimes don’t have mobility or don’t have gas in their official vehicles or motorcycles to apprehend perpetrators or convey victims to medical facilities. This, she said, should not be happening in Modern-day Sierra Leone.
The Founder and Director of GenPlus reiterated that GenPlus was mainly established to bridge the gap between victims and the justice system. This, she said, will be done not just through education, awareness raising and sensitization campaigns, but also through the rendering of support to victims. The organization will facilitate the movement of victims to access proper medical attention, transportation, and even psychosocial counselling to victims.
