Members of Parliament are divided over the level of punishment for persons who engage in female genital mutilation.

While some are calling for harsher sentences as a deterrent, others believe it will push the practice underground and are calling for education along side the law.

Joy News Parliamentary correspondent, Araba Koomson said some MPs opposed a proposal by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs calling for a review of the punishment for perpetrators of FGM.

The Committee proposed that the minimum sentence for FGM practitioners should increase from the current four years to 10 years while it pegged the maximum sentence at 25 years.

The MP for Tamale North, Alhaji Sumani Abubakari said in as much as he and many others condemn the practice the proposed sentence was too harsh and could only drive the practitioners underground.

He said it could result in many girls dying from the practice.

But the chairman of the committee insisted that the only way to nib the practice in the bud was to “make the punishment severe.”

He said the practice is almost similar to manslaughter and armed robbery and must carry similar weight in terms of punishment.