Anti- Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Board have said that they were not getting enough support from other stakeholders to accomplish some of their activities.
Addressing chiefs and their assistants, Anti- FGM Board chairperson Mrs Agnes Pereiyo said it was every citizen’s duty to support the cause of ending the retrogressive cultural practice by the year 2022, as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“We are at times not properly supported even by courts which demand for fresh evidence from victims who had fully recovered from the cut wounds,” she expressed.
She said the department of interior was deeply supporting the Board by arresting and prosecuting culprits involved in the vice but the chain in driving the wheel of justice was quite involving, to a point where some of their staff are threatened with murder.
Mrs. Pareiyo said the President Uhuru’s directive to end FGM will only succeed if all the administrators cooperated towards achieving the objectives envisioned by government.
“There are still those communities who have changed tactics like in Bomet, where the old women are the ones getting the cut and not small girls anymore,” she observed.
She made the remarks when she meet the local administrators at Bomet town during the two days’ workshop organized for administrators and community leaders.
The chairperson said the success in the fight against FGM will depend on all leaders passionate advocacy, regardless of cultural norms of not talking about sex organs.
“Had cases on FGM been handled well and those who support in silence brought to justice, FGM would be a thing of the past,” she said, further telling leaders that FGM was illegal no matter who carries it out as it impacted negatively on the sexuality of young girls.
She warned parents who take their daughters to the hospital to undergo the cut in collusion with medics, saying both parties are on the wrong side of the law and risk prosecution.
By Joseph Obwocha
