Bondo, a secret female society that demands the cutting of the female organ is widely   practiced in Sierra Leone, West Africa even though it has been criticized by many human rights activists describing it as cruel.
Those who report on it are as well not spared by it cruelty ,hence the case of Sierra Leonean journalist, Daphne Kema Macauley who defied all odds into exposing the cruel nature of the Bondo in her reportage.The incident which occurred on 19 May  2024 in the Eastern headquarter town of Kemena sent tongues wagging as to how a certain section of society could be so cruel to their fellow countrymen. On that day religious services and other business activities were brought to a halt to the amazing of many just because the Bondo secret society members have scheduled to welcome the First Lady, Fatima Bio.
Successive governments have always remained silent over the act describing it as a sensitive issue thus leaving the practicing widely carried out across the country without any prominent government official openly supporting the act
Daphne hailed from a family who thinks the act is cruel and should be abolished though some of her family members fell victims
Daphne Kema Macauley as a teenager escaped  from the hands of the initiators for fear of her life against the inhuman forceful act. The threat on her life intensified via phone calls after she condemned the action by the first lady openly on her radio program especially on the dangers posed by the society when a whole township was shut down just because the Bondo secret society members want to have their way to welcome the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
Fleeing to unknown whereabouts is the only means to save herself from this practice where young girls sometimes lose their lives in the bush during the cutting of the genital.
Reports gathered by this medium indicate that  the life of Daphne has been under serious threat for some years now as she had no option but to flee to unknown whereabouts.
We discovered after our investigation that the threats were directly coming from the Office of the First Lady,which made the situation more worrying. For them the journalist has committed an act of abomination and must be dealth with accordingly.
This medium also gathered that the practice also demands blood from the initiates which is normally used as a sacrifice by the ‘SOWEIS’, traditionally haggard looking old women who carry out the act and the home of Kema in Lungi has been frequented by these women with threats made to her family members to either produce her or be ready to face the consequences.
The worst thing is that those who perform his act  always go free when arrested by the police and other law enforcement agencies because these authorities are also part of the society and would dare not prosecute these culprits.
Many a time young girls in this part of the world face the risk of being initiated  to satisfy society’s demand or as a requirement for inheritance.
Daphne Macauley being born on March 5 ,1992 in the North Western of Sierra Leone in Lungi exposes her more to the risk of being initiated as most of her peers have gone through the practice with horrendous stories of the process.
The case of the journalist is of special concern to the initiators because she has become a prime target since she began her advocacy against the practice Daphne Kema Macauley herself did not undergo the traditional Bondo Society which is seen as a means to benefit from certain rights but because of her refusal could not . She told this medium in an interview that the Bondo’ rite secret society saw many of her colleagues going through terrible reflections.
The fact is that girls who have gone through this initiation process complain of health complications and do not normally have safer births.
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