Months left to accomplish government mission on eradicate FGM in the country
By The Mountain Journal
After decades of fighting towards eradication of the female genital mutilation (FGM), government agencies are now turning to community groups to reach the grassroots.
Janet Wanjiru is a woman living in a pale shadow of herself after she underwent FGM.
She was forced into the outdated ritual by her in-laws to enable her to get married to her suitor.
Little she did not know what was in store 24-year ago when her mother-in-law called and informed her of the family traditions.
To her shock, during the childbirth, she was ‘cut’ unaware only to realize it later when she visited a gynecologist in a Nairobi hospital seeking treatment.
She said she had lived with pain fearing to expose the scenario for the sake of her marriage.
“But am an active crusader of the anti-FGM bearing in mind I went through the rituals and I would not wish any girl in the community faced the same,” said Wanjiru.
In Samburu county, some families practice the ritual with full knowledge of the law enforcers over the celebrations in the villages.
Ms Mary Nyamato terms FGM as a generational and traditional practice for many communities.
Since it was made illegal by the Kenyan laws, more civic education was done.
“In my community it is still done at night and camouflages the celebration to hide it from the authorities,” said Nyamato.
Parents, he further stated, play hide and seek with the unfriendly law enforcers during the celebrations as they take their daughters to far off places to visit their relatives.
The executive Director of Coordination Centre for Community Empowerment Jane Kamwaga who has been working towards educating the mass in Central Kenya to abandon the outdated beliefs said they received little support from the Anti-FGM board that has concentrated its activities in board rooms in Nairobi and other major towns.
Mrs Kamwaga, a resident of Murang’a said the women’s right groups are forced to gatecrash into administration and church meetings to propagate their agendas.
“I believe there are people who are still going behind our back and performing the rituals secretly,” said Kamwaga.
She added that they have been following the Murang’a claims which is an eye opener on what could be taking place in the villages.
“When you look at the FGM situation in the country and the law, you will see that most communities are resisting the law and there are some rogue administrators supporting the vice,” observed Kamwaga.
In the past three months, concerns have been raised over the reemergence of FGM activities in Mt Kenya area, forcing the human right groups to employ new methods of accelerating health education at the grassroots.
The mountain region was previously percieved to have overcome the practice but was in the spotlight after a woman in Murang’a claimed to have been subjected to an ordeal through the instruction of her husband.
Immediately, after the matter went viral, women groups backed by female politicians penetrated the region holding advocacy forums with community leaders, and chiefs in an effort to deal with the menace.
The culture in Central Kenya is backed by a section of the cultural groups that demand their women must adhere to the customs and traditions as observed by their great grandmothers.
The anti FGM campaigns followed a claim in Kandara, where a mother said her husband and friends subjected her to circumcision.
Murang’a County Commissioner Fredrick Ndunga ordered investigations into the matter after the incident went viral, as women groups started holding meetings to educate the rural folk on the elimination of the outdated culture.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya said the retrogressive culture was on the decline after government order chiefs to be fully in charge of their areas.
“The number of the cases of the FGM has been in the decline after chiefs took charge after being warned that they were risking their jobs,” said Natembeya added saying the community must support the government to protect the innocent girls.
Anti-FGM Board CEO Bernadette Loloju said the organization had created impact in all parts of the country and reduced the incidence of the practice.
The shocking scenario, she said, was that there are pockets of Mt Kenya where FGM was being practiced in secret.
“We have been in touch with community groups assisting them in the best ways possible to stop the outdated culture,” he said.
In Kenya, four million females between the age of 15 and 49 are estimated to have gone through FGM.
In the 2014 demographic survey, 21 percent of the cases are reported to have been conducted by the traditional circumcisers.
According to the government agency, Northern Kenya lead with incidents, followed by Nyanza, Rift Valley, Eastern and Central Kenya.
