Gender CAS on Anti-FGM county tours

#EndFGM: Shebesh meets administrative officials in FGM hotspot counties
Gender CAS on Anti-FGM county tours

What you need to know:

  • Government has introduced a strategy targeting provincial administration officials serving in FGM hotspot counties.

  • CAS is touring FGM hotspot counties where she has been meeting local administration and devising on ways to end the outlawed practice.

  • The End FGM agenda by 2022 will be integrated into performance appraisals of local administrators working in the county.

  • Relevant stakeholders to continue engageing leadership in the neighbouring countries to end cross border FGM.

Alarmed by the increasing cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) during the Covid-19 pandemic, the government have changed tact to contain the situation.

It has introduced a strategy targeting provincial administration officials serving in FGM hotspot counties.

In Narok, at 92 per cent preference, Kisii and Nyamira at 86 per cent, the government has now integrated the #EndFGM Agenda by 2022 in to the performance appraisals of all local provincial administrators in the hotspots.

Kisii County Commissioner Mr Stephen Kihara said the new strategy will be used by all administrators in the county.

“The End FGM agenda by 2022 shall be integrated into the performance appraisals of all the local administrators working in the county. We are not only responding to the call by the President to end FGM by 2022, but we must also ensure the rights of our women and girls are not violated,” said Mr Kihara.

He said the county is highest in terms of FGM prevalence rate at 94 per cent among the 22 hotspot counties in the country.

“This means nine out of ten girls undergo the cut here. Research has shown that we are among the highest in FGM prevalence and we must end the outlawed practice,” he said.

MEDICAL PERSONNEL

The County Commissioner spoke when he received Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Public Service and Gender Rachel Shebesh and her delegation in his office.

Ms Shebesh was accompanied by officials from the Anti-FGM board led by the chairperson Agnes Pareiyo and UNFPA-Kenya director Ademola Oladije.

The CAS is touring FGM hotspot counties where she has been meeting local administration and devising on ways to end the outlawed practice.

She warned the medical personnel in Kisii, who have been aiding and abetting FGM in hospitals, saying they will face the full force of the law.

Kisii County have, in the recent times, been on the spotlight over increased medicalisation of FGM with some doctors and medical personnel being accused to abetting the vice.

Ms Shebesh noted that the relevant stakeholders would continue to engage leadership in the neighbouring countries to end cross border FGM.

Mr Oladije said FGM remains a challenge in Kisii County and the medical fraternity is a major part of the problem.

GENDER DESKS

He rooted for the formulation of a county FGM policy saying it will be a demonstration of commitment to the President’s agenda to end the outlawed practice.

“Police stations in Kisii County have gender desks and we discourage ‘community resolution’ of sexual and gender-based violence cases that violate the rights of women and girls,” he said.

MCA Bethsheba Sanaya said women must speak out against harmful cultures like FGM.

“We must protect our daughters and teach our sons that the banned cultural rite has no value to our daughters,” she said.

In Narok, Ms Shebesh said there is need to re-evaluate the strategy to come up with effective interventions to ensure the vice ends by 2022.

“Chiefs and their assistants here, in Narok, must ensure no FGM takes place in their jurisdiction. Anybody aiding the outlawed practice must be brought to book,” said Ms Shebesh.

Narok County Commissioner Samuel Kimiti assured the delegation that he would do everything within his power to end the vice.

Narok Woman Representative Ms Soipan Tuya pledged to support the government in its efforts to combat the vice.

The MP said, in order to act as a deterrent, they were arresting and parading the perpetrators within their localities to shame and embarrass them before prosecuting them.

STERN WARNING

During her tour in Embu last week,  Ms Shebesh, speaking at the Kenya School of Government, warned medical practitioners abetting FGM that they would be arrested and prosecuted.

She noted that some parents secretly take their young girls to private clinics to be circumcised.

"Such clinics will be shut and their owners punished in accordance with the rule of law," she said.

Ms Shebesh stressed that there is no room for compromise in the fight against FGM, adding that no one would be spared regardless of their position in society.

She noted that the duty of the government is to protect children against retrogressive practices, warning chiefs against being compromised to form kangaroo courts for resolving FGM cases.

She also said the government has engaged community elders and religious leaders in the FGM fight since the practice has religious and cultural angle in some communities.

Agnes Pareiyo, the Anti-FGM Board chairperson said the prevalence of the practice in Embu stands at 30.7 per cent.

Embu County Commissioner, Abdulahi Galgalo, said his administration is committed to ensure the practice is brought to zero rating in Embu by 2022. He directed chiefs to arrest anyone found subjecting girls to the outdated cultural practices