ELIJAH BOSCO MAGAIWA

On March 5, 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Samburu elders together with leaders from 22 other “FGM hotspot counties” and other key government officials, and committed to end Female Genital Mutilation by 2022.

The moment marked a significant step following his previous commitment during the Nairobi Summit for the International Conference on Population and Development, 25 (ICPD 25), where he reiterated his commitment to end FGM by strengthening enforcement and implementation of policies and legislation including the Prohibition of FGM Act 2011.

The High Court would a few weeks later rule that the practice of FGM violates girls and women’s rights to human dignity, health and, in instances of death, it violates right to life.

The three-judge bench added that Kenya has ratified several regional and international treaties that committed the government to protect the rights of women and girls, including freedom from discrimination, inhuman, cruel, and degrading treatment, harmful cultural practices and attainment of highest standards of health.

The news was warmly welcomed in my home area, among the Kuria people in Migori County, with the hope that young girls will now escape this harmful vice of forceful circumcision in line with the pressure from their parents, manipulation with gifts, including cash, and threats of not getting married.

As the world marks yet another Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation on Sunday, many girls in my community are still nursing wounds from another cutting season last December.

For the President’s directive to be achieved, the government must put our money where its mouth is and increase allocations to the agencies responsible for fighting against FGM, including the Judiciary and anti-FGM board.

The police also need to ensure that the law is followed to the letter by arresting and taking the perpetrators to court, as well protecting whistleblowers.

Courts need to issue verdicts that will prevent the perpetrators from going back to the vice. We are tired of seeing the cycle of female circumcisers being arrested after public outcry, only to be released back to society when the noise dies down.

I also call upon all civil society organisations in Migori, Kajiado, Samburu and other affected counties to work together in addressing this tragedy. 

CSOs need to work in a non-competitive way through pulling resources together in supporting girls who have been rescued, survivors and whistleblowers and ensuring that accurate and timely information reaches the relevant authorities.

Children deserve to enjoy their rights as stipulated in the Constitution and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children. 

Many of our young girls are often forced into child marriages to enrich their parents, thus dropping out of school because they are perceived as grownups. 

This leads to teen pregnancies, increased risk of childbirth complications, menstrual problems, and lifelong time trauma. Together we can stop this vice and give our sisters and daughters the future they deserve.

— The writer is a youth advocate at the Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa