Don’t renege on Uhuru’s plan in FGM war, crusaders tell Ruto
Tarime Regional community engagement police officer Daudi Ibrahim speaks at anti-FGM stakeholders meeting held in Tarime town, Tanzania.
What you need to know:
- FGM stakeholders want President William Ruto to continue with the quest to end the retrogressive cultural practice.
- Sentiments come even as Kenya’s Anti-FGM Board exuded confidence the government was not keen to disrupt current interventions.
- Activists said despite the efforts to contain the vice last December, several girls crossed to Tanzania to undergo the cut, while some were secretly being mutilated in the wee hours.
Stakeholders championing the fight against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) have called on President William Ruto to continue with the quest to end the retrogressive cultural practice.
The calls come amidst fear that the government may not propel the course left by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who directed that FGM be eradicated by 2022.
Already, there are talks of planned cross-border cuts during the December festivities, with crusaders heightening surveillance.
Speaking during a cross-border sensitization program organized at a Tanzania Hotel, the stakeholders noted that failure by the government to stem the fight would curtail the progress made in scaling down the vice.
The meeting brought together anti-FGM crusaders from Kenya and Tanzania to brainstorm on a way forward, ahead of the anticipated cut in December.
Bolster gains
“The President (Ruto) should make a decree in line with his predecessor move to ensure FGM is totally done away with. The progress we have made, so far, in scaling down the practice should not be wished away,” noted John Omondi, Kuria West Sub-county children's officer.
According to Mr Omondi, the government should bolster the gains made in eradicating the vice in communities where it is practiced and ensure a conducive learning environment for girls.
The sentiments come even as Kenya’s Anti-FGM Board exuded confidence the government was not keen to disrupt the current interventions.
Through their programs officer Nyerere Kutwa, the board maintains that the directive to end FGM by the end of 2022 was from the Office of the President not from the bearer, dismissing an illusion that the fight against the vice ended with the former president Kenyatta.
“President Ruto recognizes the need to save the girls from the cut and has promised to increase allocations where need be. That is an indication that the anti FGM fight did not go with the former president. We are upbeat that he will follow his predecessor’s footsteps and ensure we move in the right track,” Mr Kutwa said.
Zero cases
During the two-day sessions, the delegation bordered on issues aimed at ensuring cross-border cut are addressed and school going girls are rescued from the practice. Each official relayed milestones toward achieving zero FGM cases.
Among key resolutions they came up with include conducting barazas (community meetings) as early as this month, where elders from the clans poised to do the cutting will be invited. They will also intensify the use of boda boda riders across the border, to propagate the messages that discourage the vice.
The riders are targeted because they are the main means of transport along the borders, and their capability to penetrate impassable roads and be in close contact with the local community means they understand the assignment better.
Already, the four Kuria clans of Bwirege, Nyabasi, Bugumbe and Bukira, as well as Renchoka, and Bumera clans in Tanzania are planning for the cut.
Activists said despite the efforts to contain the vice last December, several girls crossed to Tanzania to undergo the cut, while some were secretly being mutilated in the wee hours.
Data from the anti-FGM Board indicates that about 3,000 girls were subjected to cross border FGM in 2020, in Kenya, while the Bumera of Tanzania and Renchoka subjected more than 800 girls to the cut.
“We have girls and families who cross the border from both sides for the cut. This can be stopped by increasing vigilance for arrests, this is our main agenda,” Tarime District police commander Peterson Nkoma said.
Behaviour change
Last year, elders from the Kuria community in Migori County, in Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to end FGM in the region, pledging their commitment to help in the fight against FGM.
Despite these pledges, little has been achieved with crusaders now launching a series of behaviour change campaigns in the community.
Migori County Gender Director Kenneth Kenneth Oomo, noted that despite creating an enabling environment for Anti-FGM activists and other stakeholders, some clan elders were conning the State by giving false assurance.
“We are trying to include all players, which also incorporates clan elders in the fight against the vice, however, we are aware of some who are dishonest. They lie to us in the daytime but back at home they are the main champions who cut our girls,” lamented Mr Oomo.
According to the official, the impact of FGM activities at the grassroots level had reduced by 50 per cent, adding that they are still on course to completely wipe out the vice from the region by the end of this year.
With barely a month left before the circumcision ceremony begins in the Kuria regions both in Kenya and Tanzania, crime busters including local chiefs and police officers have agreed to work together to patrol the porous border that has allowed discrete passage of the culprits.
Regional community engagement police officer Tarime Roria District Superintendent Daudi Ibrahim, said they discovered that FGM is mostly conducted in the wee hours when most people are asleep.
This, he said, had made rescue operations challenging.
The cross-border Anti-FGM taskforce included community policing, gender and children’s officers, local anti-FGM activists, journalists and law enforcers from Kenya and Tanzania.
