Not In My Name

The NotInMyName Campaign is an anti-FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) campaign demanding an end to FGM in Sierra Leone.

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

Do you think that #fgm should be banned on #sierraleone?

#endfgm #SaloneBanFGM #notinmyname #communityaction

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

@NimkoAli For those that want more evidence of her stance on FGM listen to her in her own words

[Nimco Ali (OBE) @NimkoAli]

The pro-FGM First Lady of Sierra Leone is coming to the UK this week. She should be held accountable for supporting a practice that kills women and girls. FGM is abuse, not culture, and we cannot stay silent while it continues. https://t.co/cJgJD23ScD

[robin avalyn @AvalynAphorisms]

@TheAlima FGM!

Not "normal." Never "normal."

Mutilating young girls' genitals so they never feel pleasure, only pain, in sexual relations. In all aspects of maternity, too

It is a heinous crime against the life force imposed by frightened gynaephic men.

& is enforced by women. Shame

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

@TheAlima This is shocking and totally unacceptable. Yet she claims she wants to end child marriage. Anyone who believes this is failing to recognise the real dangers and harm caused by child marriage and FGM to girls’ lives and futures.

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

The First Lady of Sierra Leone Fatima Bio publicly seen here over the weekend defending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) we all know this has been banned worldwide while receiving international support for programmes on girls’ rights and ending child marriage is deeply alarming. In fact if appears she was mocking those speaking against this awful abuse on the bodies of women and girls.

UK taxpayers’ money through development funding must not be used to sanitise or indirectly support political narratives that normalise violence against girls. FGM is not culture when girls suffer lifelong physical and psychological harm.

I urge @OAFLAD @FCDOGovUK @GirlsNotBrides international partners to review how funding and partnerships are being used in Sierra Leone and ensure accountability, safeguarding, and consistency on the rights of women and girls.

Girls cannot be protected from child marriage while their bodily autonomy is simultaneously violated through FGM.

As a campaigner and survivor I would like to bring this matter to the public. Are we now ok with this behavior to a woman heavily funded for programs to end Child Marriage as she claims?

@UN_Women
@UNFPA
@UNICEF
@equalitynow
@TheGirlGen
@OrchidProject
@ActionAid
@ActionAid
@Irish_Aid
@amnesty
@TheFiveFound
@hrw
@PlanUK
@SafeHands4Girls
@TheVavengers
@GlobalSpotlight
@unfpachief
@NimkoAli
@MerckFoundation
@AU_WGYD
@EUatUN
@commonwealthsec
@DavidLammy
@KemiBadenoch
@jessphillips
@SarahChampionMP
@PreetKGillMP
@UKParliament
@BBCAfrica
@SkyNews
@AJIunit
@cathynewman
@lfeatherstone
@HelenaKennedyKC
@RobertJenrick
@jpVAWdata

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

I need to be in Narrm (Melbourne) on 27 April @WomenDeliver 👍🏾

In the last few days, something powerful has happened.

£400 raised directly.
£476 through @gofundme
£354.35 from @VickieRemoe .

That’s over £1,200 raised because people chose to show up for this work.

I am deeply grateful.

But I am not there yet.

I still need £1,770 and only have days to make this happen.

My registration is paid.
My visa is granted.
My leave is booked.

Everything is in place except getting there.

I am a survivor of FGM, and for over 30 years I have been campaigning to end violence against women and girls. In Sierra Leone, there is still no law banning FGM, and we are seeing a rise in girls being subjected to it.

This is why being in that room matters.

A friend said to me, “Your voice is too important to be silenced by a plane ticket.”

If you have been watching or meaning to support, this is the moment.

If a small number of people give what they can, we can close this gap before Saturday.

👉 https://t.co/9uxitpt1pN

We are close. Let’s finish this. Thank you 🙏🏽

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

🤞🤞🤞🤞

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

My Aussie neighbour saw my tweet and he says I should try the Aussie way.
Hello 👋🏾 @Qantas @emirates @British_Airways @thepointsguy @etihad @qatarairways @SingaporeAir @VirginAtlantic @9NewsMelb @HyattConcierge @HiltonHotels @Accor 🙏🏽

I need to be in Narrm (Melbourne) by 27 April for #WomenDeliver2026 conference
Visa granted ✔️
Registration paid ✔️
Leave booked✔️

Just need a flight + a place to stay

Any airline or hotel able to support a frontline gender advocate? Let’s make it happen 🇦🇺 😊

@gofundme: https://t.co/9uxitpt1pN

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

My Aussie neighbour saw my tweet and he says I should try the Aussie way.
Hello 👋🏾 @Qantas @emirates @British_Airways @thepointsguy @etihad @qatarairways @SingaporeAir @VirginAtlantic @9NewsMelb @HyattConcierge @HiltonHotels @Accor 🙏🏽

I need to be in Narrm (Melbourne) by 27 April for #WomenDeliver2026 conference
Visa granted ✔️
Registration paid ✔️
Leave booked✔️

Just need a flight + a place to stay

Any airline or hotel able to support a frontline gender advocate? Let’s make it happen 🇦🇺 😊

@gofundme: https://t.co/9uxitpt1pN

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

Dr @Rashakelej Thank you for using media, culture, and storytelling to confront the reality of FGM and its lifelong harm to girls and women. Awareness is vital, but leadership matters just as much.

First Ladies across Africa have enormous influence. When they stand clearly against FGM, communities listen. When the message is mixed or harmful practices are legitimised, it sets us back and places girls at risk.

As a survivor and long-standing advocate, it is deeply painful to witness moments where political leadership fails to protect girls, including recent developments in Sierra Leone that have emboldened those who carry out cutting. Silence or endorsement is not neutral. It has consequences.

I hope initiatives like Our Africa by Merck Foundation continue to challenge those in power, especially First Ladies, to choose protection over politics and courage over culture. Girls deserve leadership that safeguards their bodies, dignity, and futures.

Together, we must move beyond awareness to accountability and real action.

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

Let’s celebrate our culture,
WhatsApp,
not the harm. Bondo can
Instagram,
be a space for sisterhood,
Facebook,
learning, and solidarity,
X(Twitter)
without cutting.
#SayNoToFGM
‘
@Purposeful_org
@ForumHarmful
@TheAlima

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

This is so sad . #EndFGM

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

Several activists @DiakaTheKQueen, @KamSarian including myself have seen the disturbing videos of little girls one looking no older than a year who have been subjected to FGM. The videos are sickening to watch. As it’s the holidays I have reached out to the following authorities and senior cabinet members @dsengeh , @IsataMahoi,@Cee_Bah @RainboInitiativ, @USEmbFreetown ,@UKinSierraLeone With the support of @Avaaz, I launched a petition that has reached over 500,000 people worldwide, yet President Bio has ignored our pleas.
As we approach the 2028 general elections, we are deeply concerned by reports and credible indications that some political actors are financing or encouraging mass initiation (FGM) ceremonies, including the cutting of girls in Sierra Leone.

We are calling on the international community, including the United Nations, to press for accountability and decisive action to protect children.

The President has a clear opportunity to end this harm by supporting an explicit legal prohibition of FGM, particularly for children, and by ensuring consistent enforcement. Instead, many activists and survivors are concerned that the Child Rights Act did not retain clear, explicit language that would have unambiguously prohibited FGM, despite sustained advocacy and repeated calls from civil society and survivors.

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

Several activists @DiakaTheKQueen, @KamSarian including myself have seen the disturbing videos of little girls one looking no older than a year who have been subjected to FGM. The videos are sickening to watch. As it’s the holidays I have reached out to the following authorities and senior cabinet members @dsengeh , @IsataMahoi,@Cee_Bah @RainboInitiativ, @USEmbFreetown ,@UKinSierraLeone With the support of @Avaaz, I launched a petition that has reached over 500,000 people worldwide, yet President Bio has ignored our pleas.
As we approach the 2028 general elections, we are deeply concerned by reports and credible indications that some political actors are financing or encouraging mass initiation (FGM) ceremonies, including the cutting of girls in Sierra Leone.

We are calling on the international community, including the United Nations, to press for accountability and decisive action to protect children.

The President has a clear opportunity to end this harm by supporting an explicit legal prohibition of FGM, particularly for children, and by ensuring consistent enforcement. Instead, many activists and survivors are concerned that the Child Rights Act did not retain clear, explicit language that would have unambiguously prohibited FGM, despite sustained advocacy and repeated calls from civil society and survivors.

[Susan Taylor @susantaylorTTS]

For me, @JimGamble_INEQE is and will always be the OG of safeguarding. I have never seen any one show as much grit and dogged determination to kick down doors and keep children safe. The children of #Hackney are safer with him at the helm. Other SCP chairs 📣Are you listening? 📝

[SIERRAEYESALONE @sierraeyesalone]

The world reels from two tragic shootings over the weekend.

A terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney's Bondi Beach in Australia, killing at least 15 people in an antisemitic assault.

A mass shooting at Brown University in the United States, leaving two students dead and nine injured.

These acts of violence remind us of the fragility of peace everywhere.

We stand with those affected by antisemitism, bigotry, hate crimes, and gun violence.

Violence driven by hatred demands a global response grounded in accountability, prevention, and protection for all.

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

Well said 👏🏾👏🏾

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

I’ve published an opinion piece responding to a Journal of Medical Ethics article that suggests reframing female genital mutilation as “female genital practices.”

As a survivor of FGM, I reject language that sanitises violence against children or misuses “decolonisation” to silence scrutiny.

FGM is not a practice. The evidence is settled.

Read more : https://t.co/nUmpmjJu8U

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

I’ve published an opinion piece responding to a Journal of Medical Ethics article that suggests reframing female genital mutilation as “female genital practices.”

As a survivor of FGM, I reject language that sanitises violence against children or misuses “decolonisation” to silence scrutiny.

FGM is not a practice. The evidence is settled.

Read more : https://t.co/nUmpmjJu8U

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

A warrior who has gone to take a rest @alimamytamba Rest in Peace Abdul Rahim Kamara
🕊️💔

[Not In My Name @NotInMyNameSL]

Thank you

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

Exactly, Sir. @jmarah_arnold1 Can you imagine a bill that was meant to protect our children was hijacked by adults mostly women whose sole purpose in Parliament seems to be defending Soweis (traditional cutters).

Imagine this - It’s as if paedophiles had a lobby in Parliament and were granted permission to continue harming our girls. That is what has happened. President Bio knows this. His own ministers told him and his Attorney General advised him not too.

I know this because I recently returned from Sierra Leone and spoke directly with MPs who voted against the bill. They told me that those who supported the removal of the protective clause were led by an actual Sowei. In any other part of the world, this would be unacceptable.

We all know this. And now, President Maada Bio has shown both the world and the citizens of Sierra Leone that he has no respect for victims and survivors. He has ignored the @ecowas_cedeao Court’s ruling and since 2019 disregarded repeated calls from the United Nations @UN at the commission on the status of women #CSW @UNSRVAW has written his government, @unwomenchief @UNFPA has sent a delegate—calling on him to enact law that seeks to protect and safeguard girls from female genital mutilation. He totally ignored all these calls.

His government even includes a former top UN official, yet neither he @yumkella nor the President had the courage to take a stand.
Instead, they are both relying on the Soweis who cut our daughters to deliver them votes in 2028. Soweis exploit the practice of cutting to coerce parents and young girls, using it as a tool for political manipulation. We know and we are no longer going to stay silent.

[Alimatu Dimonekene MBE @TheAlima]

Exactly, Sir. @jmarah_arnold1 Can you imagine a bill that was meant to protect our children was hijacked by adults mostly women whose sole purpose in Parliament seems to be defending Soweis (traditional cutters).

Imagine this - It’s as if paedophiles had a lobby in Parliament and were granted permission to continue harming our girls. That is what has happened. President Bio knows this. His own ministers told him and his Attorney General advised him not too.

I know this because I recently returned from Sierra Leone and spoke directly with MPs who voted against the bill. They told me that those who supported the removal of the protective clause were led by an actual Sowei. In any other part of the world, this would be unacceptable.

We all know this. And now, President Maada Bio has shown both the world and the citizens of Sierra Leone that he has no respect for victims and survivors. He has ignored the @ecowas_cedeao Court’s ruling and since 2019 disregarded repeated calls from the United Nations @UN at the commission on the status of women #CSW @UNSRVAW has written his government, @unwomenchief @UNFPA has sent a delegate—calling on him to enact law that seeks to protect and safeguard girls from female genital mutilation. He totally ignored all these calls.

His government even includes a former top UN official, yet neither he @yumkella nor the President had the courage to take a stand.
Instead, they are both relying on the Soweis who cut our daughters to deliver them votes in 2028. Soweis exploit the practice of cutting to coerce parents and young girls, using it as a tool for political manipulation. We know and we are no longer going to stay silent.

[Vickie Remoe @VickieRemoe]

Where unchecked nepotism exists, corruption often follows.

Salient Points by @sierraeyesalone and I'll add this:

The problem with nepotism is that it prevents the government from seeking out and attracting the best talent.

We have made nepotism part of our culture, but it is essentially a disease.

The chief minister and the minister of information are childhood best friends. The minister of information and the chief minister’s wife are also friends.

Appointing your best friend’s wife to lead and establish a national committee is a textbook example of nepotism.

When the goal is to give power and influence to friends and relatives of government officials—such as the Chief Minister’s wife—you create a system rooted in favoritism rather than merit.

Finally, Ask anyone or do a Google Search of Sierra Leonean leaders of cultural preservation, creation, design, innovation, amplification, and leadership, bottom line is that the Chief Minister’s wife and most of the people she selected to be on her council no go day day.

Speaking Mende is nice.
Making music is nice.

#saynotoracism
#saynotonepotism