The indefatigable Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority (NRA), Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara, was the proud recipient of an African Excellence in Public Office Award presented to her by the Coalition of Women in Africa for Peace and Development at the Marriot Hotel during the 3rd edition of the African Women Summit held from 12th – 14th May 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda, (The Land of a Thousand Hills). The award was in appreciation for her in the area of women empowerment and her sterling as well as tremendous positive and selfless contributions made by her so far in public affairs.

Prior to her departure to Rwanda, the result-oriented legal luminary was officially and specially invited in her capacity as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone by the Founder of the Coalition of Women in Africa for Peace and Development (COWAP) , Amb Belema Meshack-Hart, in a letter dated the 14th April, 2022 to deliver a talk.
In her invitation letter, she was intimated that COWAP brings her greetings from her Excellency Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor, the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia who is the Co-Chairperson of the Coalition of Women in Africa for Peace and Development (COWAP).

She was also informed that this year, Kigali, Rwanda (The Land of a Thousand Hills) will host the 3rd edition of the African Women Summit from 12th – 14th May 2022, with the theme, “Examining the Critical Role Women Play as Agents of Peace and Sustainable Development”.
Tuma Adama Gento –Kamara was assigned the task of to speak at the fireside chat on the topic: “Climbing the Corporate Ladder: Strategies for Standing Out in a Men Dominated World.”

Addressing a well attended summit, the NRA Board Chairperson, Tuma Adama Gento-Kamara conveyed greetings from a beautiful country on the West Coast of Africa, a country known for its historical role in the settlement of free slaves and a land known as the cradle of freedom.

She revealed that as early as 1957, a young Lady by the name of Ella Koblo Gulama became the first female Paramount Chief and the first female Member of Parliament in Sierra Leone, in an era when politics and traditional leadership was a male dominated affair.

According to her she is present to talk about the role women play as agents of peace and sustainable development. She said from what she understands Peace is a state of tranquility or quiet such as freedom from external and internal disturbances, a state of security or order within and without in the lives of individuals and communitiesas provided for by law.

Madam Gento-Kamara furthered that our recent history has proven that we are constant victims of war maintaining that across the human race, the African woman is clothed with a unique characteristic which she thinks must be celebrated. She added that at the moment she celebrates the ‘Africaness’ of our womanhood.

Quoting a proverb, “Frailty, thy name is woman”, which she said is generally attributed to women in the world is one that is also saying women are weak, less tough as compared to men.

However, Madam Gento-Kamara maintained that such is not the case for the African woman because when one talks about the African woman, one must keep in mind that one is dealing with an extraordinary creation with an unusual finesse that goes beyond accepted projections.

“The African woman is fashionable, spiritual, family oriented, humorous, ecstatic, sexy, and sensual,” she proudly asserted.
She gave a brief example of her upbringing which she said was at first rosy but went soar when war break out in the country and her influential father was imprisoned leading her to go through struggles.

Generalizing her experience, she said that is the story of an African Woman in search of greener pastures informing all that today she is educated, a mother to many, happily married, and professionally accomplished.

Posing the questions : “Where do one go after achieving these things?”, “What can we really do?”, “What can we do when about 40% of global average pregnancies are teenage pregnancies and 50% of them end up in abortion, 38% result in birthsbut are not adequately catered for?”
Those questions were followed by: “What can we do……?”, “What can we do when it is clear to all in this room that women receive lower medical care than men?”

The NRA Chairperson pointed out that according to an international reputable source over one billion women hardly have legal protection against domestic sexual violence or economic violence.
She then asked: “What can we do?”
Madam Gento-Kamara told the august gathering that in many countries, there’s a lack of legal protection against harassment in the workplace, in schools and in public.

She intimated how she read somewhere that all national Parliaments at the beginning of 2019 only have 24.3% of seats filled by women also stating that as of June 2019, 11 Heads of State were women.
According to her , despite progress in that area over the years, women are still grossly underrepresented in Government and the political process maintaining that such means that certain issues that female politicians tend to bring up are often neglected.

She underscored that over and above the meetings, the communiqué and the advocacies she reckons the emergence of an awakening in the hearts and minds of women everywhere on those issues.
She informed how Sierra Leone has played key roles in enacting laws that protect and seek the interest of women referencing the Devolution of Estate Act 2007, the Domestic Violence Act 2007, the Child Right Act 2007 and currently the Gender Bill is being tabled for enactment.
According to her, those laws, from all intent and purpose, have helped to protect women and girls from all forms of discrimination in inheritance right, violence of every nature, seeking the welfare of the child, and above all when ultimately the Gender Bill is enacted, women shall have at least 30% representation in the public sector.
She said despite differences all women they all have one thing in common that confronts them as budding and established African Woman on the Continent.
“We are confronted with a menace that has refused to bow to the dictates of contemporary phenomenon and as we push further, like elastic, the gap is becoming wider and wider,” she informed adding how the 2021 global gender gap published by the world economic forum is a testament to that maintaining that the global gender gap index benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps among four key dimensions which are Economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival plus political attainment.
She said in that report, the World Economic Forum tracks progress towards closing those gaps overtime stating that such will indeed take time.

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