By Mena Kalokoh | Development Intern
One of our recent clients, Marie*, who is 6 months pregnant, was detained for fraudulent conversion or non-payment of debt. Marie is a business woman; she buys goods from a local village and sells them in the city. Last year, using a loan, she invested money in a yam business. Unfortunately, her business endeavor proved unsuccessful because of a heavy rainy season. In order to cover her losses and to continue to operate her business, she borrowed additional money from others. Because Marie was already struggling to support her family, she was unable to pay her loans when her creditors asked for repayment and in April she was arrested and detained. She owed about $550 in loans. Our paralegals provided her with legal advice and worked to find a resolution with the complainant. Our social worker helped her with food provisions while she was in detention and conducted family tracing. Marie was eventually granted bail, but she was unable to find someone to provide surety, so she remained in detention.
In May, when she expressed serious concern over the health of her unborn baby, one of our social workers took her to a hospital for an ultrasound. AdvocAid also helped Marie buy the medication prescribed by the doctor. AdvocAid continued to work to find a resolution to her case and by June, we were able to give Marie a grant to pay back the loan to the primary complainant, securing her release.
Our latest research report, Woman Wahala Na Prison, found 14% of women who are in detention had been charged or convicted of petty offences. These women are often detained for long periods of time under laws which criminalise non-payment of debt and loitering for example. Because people are often unaware of their legal rights and because of these outdated laws, straightforward disputes over debt can often result in women being detained for owing small sums of money.
Your donations ensure that we can continue to support women like Marie* and campaign to decriminalise petty offences such as fraudulent conversion.
*Name has been changed to maintain anonymity for our clients.
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