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President William Ruto has warned Marsabit residents enabling and practising Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Speaking during the Marsabit Lake Turkana Cultural Festival held in Loiyangalani on Saturday, November 25, 2023, Ruto affirmed that the government was strongly against the vice terming it a violent treatment.

While condemning the perpetrators of the activity, the president noted that the act violated the rights of women and was against the law and constitution.

“Tumekuja hapa na kusudi kwa sababu hapa marsabit na sehemu hii ya wafugaji ndio bado tuko na kasumba ya fujo kwa wanawake, watu hapa wanachukua miti wanagonga bibi, watoto wetu wasichana mnachukua panga mnawakata, hio maneno ya kupasha tohara wasichana tumesema ikome.

“Maneno ya Female genital Mutilation is against the law, constitution, its an illegal activity and no Kenyan girl, daughter in the republic of Kenya should be subjected to such violent treatment,” the President said.

Additionally, Ruto issued a stern warning to individuals enabling early marriages in the county, he noted that it was nonsensical for old men to be chasing after young girls who should be focusing on their education.

“The greatest violence ya gender ni FGM, the greatest violence kwa wasichana wetu ni kuolewa mapema, mtoto wa miaka kumi na mbili, kumi na tano, kuna mzee mzima anaenda anamfanya anakua bibi yake, una wazimu kiasi gani kumchukua mtoto kumfanya bibi yako?

“Nataka niwaambie wazee, tafadhali watoto ni wa kuenda shule waende wasome wewe kama unatafuta bibi ngojea, utapatana na wale wa miaka ishirini na tano kuendelea mbele, hawa tunataka waende shule wasome,” Ruto said.

Further, the country’s Head of State ordered the area administrators to arrest all perpetrators of early marriages and FGM and ensure that they face the full wrath of the law.

“We do not want our daughters to be subjected to violence in the form of FGM, we want our girls to go to school and do their best. Those involved in that exercise must be prosecuted and jailed for a long time because they are destroying the future of the children,” he said.