By Mama A. Touray
Gambians have welcomed the National Assembly stance to hold ban on skin bleaching, a law that has been introduced in 1996, which gave way to a heated debate in parliament last week.
Kebba Lang Jammeh who spoke to The Voice believed skin bleaching causes health complications during labour saying: “because if you bleach your natural form is no longer there.”
“Come to think of it, the two dominant religions in The Gambia, if you look at them, they did not encourage anyone to bleach so we are doing it out of ignorant,” he said.
He however held duty-bearers to account that they sometimes “encourage their wives and children and their relatives to bleach their skins.”
“The parliamentarians, go to their offices, go to the police force, go to the state house you will find bleachers so it will be difficult to implement that in The Gambia,” Mr Jammeh said.
According to him, he believes it will be difficult to implement the ban because people who should exercise that law will not exercise it because of their attitudes towards skin bleaching.
Binta Njie said “the law of banning skin bleaching is very good because if you bleach it goes to a stage wherein you will have health complications because if you are sick and the doctors want to inject you but looking at the nature of your skin you can’t be injected so you May die if you are in critical condition.”
“Those who are black in complexion trying to become white did not know how important black is, because if they do they will never try to transform it,” she said.
She added that what the parliamentarians say is the truth, skin bleaching should be banned and even the products should be banned from entering the country because if the cream is not brought here it won’t be used.”
However, Yankuba Sanyang said the people who are fighting for it are the ones “who are even encouraging their wives and children and their relatives to do it that’s the problem of we Africans”.
They concluded by saying that the constitution is a book that did not favour anyone and since it is now in the constitution Gambians should all abide by it to be in the safer side.