Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Soipan Tuya has condemned retrogressive culture that undermines women.
Speaking during the ongoing Maa Cultural Festival at Sekenani Gate- Maasai Mara National Reserve, Ms. Tuya asked the community to embrace the progressive culture that attracts development in the Maa-speaking counties.
She singled out Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and teenage marriages as some of the cultural practices that were retrogressive and needed to be wiped out urgently.
Soipan who served ten years as the Narok County Woman Member of Parliament also condemned the cultural practice that encouraged women to defer to men at the dinner table such that women would only eat after the man had had enough of their fill.
“Previously, there was masculine food and feminine food such that when an animal is slaughtered, women would eat only the intestines and liver while men enjoyed the most delicious parts,” she recalled, saying that this is a negative culture that should not be embraced in modern-day Kenya.
The CS challenged the community to embrace education and religion saying a successful culture is one where people are educated and worship God.
“Today we have religious leaders and very educated people among us, as we celebrate the Maa culture. This means a good culture is that which embraces development,” she reiterated, calling on girls to put more effort in school so that they can become professionals in various fields.
Her sentiments were echoed by Narok Governor’s wife Mrs Agnes Ntutu who said FGM, early marriages, and teenage pregnancies should be a thing of the past in the community.
She said Maa girls have an equal opportunity like the boys to influence society through education, vowing to support girls in the county to lead a decent life.
The ongoing Maa Cultural Festival has brought together Maa-speaking counties among them Samburu, Kajiado, Baringo, Marsabit, and the host Narok County.
The festival, which will be run annually, aims at uniting the Maa people as they market their products both locally and internationally.
President Dr. William Ruto graced the event in the company of Governor Patrick Ntutu (Narok), Governor Jonathan Lelelit (Samburu), and Governor Joseph Ole Lenku (Kajiado).
Others attending the festival are Anglican Churches of Kenya Arch Bishop Jackson Ole Sapit, who hails from Narok County, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza, and Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde.
By Ann Salaton
