End FGM to free girl child

Reports that girls in some regions go into the bush to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) on one another using crude tools is proof that the outdated practice will be with us for many years.

In some communities, it is an integral rite of passage, marking the transition from childhood to adulthood. No wonder, once their girls undergo the ‘cut’, they are deemed ready for marriage.

The UN says 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM, which is practised in at least 27 African countries and parts of Asia and the Middle East.

One in every five women and girls aged 15-49 in Kenya . In some communities, FGM prevalence is at 77 per cent, way above the 21 per cent national rate. Fighting FGM openly is akin to political suicide.

Kenya outlawed FGM in 2011, stipulating a minimum punishment of three years imprisonment and fines of up to Sh 200,000.

Despite this being one of the most comprehensive anti-FGM legislations in East Africa, many communities regard it as necessary for social acceptance and marriage prospects.

Many would have hoped that the practice would gradually die out as the traditional cutters wear out due to natural attrition and people move to live and work in towns and cities.

However, there are reports that in some places, trained medical personnel were being hired secretly to perform the cut either in private residences or the clients’ homes.

Even a doctor went to court seeking to have the Prohibition of the Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011 and the Anti -FGM Board declared unconstitutional.

The government’s commitment to end FGM by last year through progressive policies, legislative frameworks and programmes seem overtaken by events.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that eradicating the abhorrent practice requires a more radical approach, even beyond the 2030 UN target.

- Mr Mwandambo is a freelance journalist and blogger. [email protected].