Church condemns retrogressive practices

Anglican Church of Kenya (A.C.K) Diocese of Mbeere has vowed to fight Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and incidents of teenage pregnancies among young girls in the region and other parts of the country.
Speaking to the press, Diocesan Bishop of Mbeere, Right. Rev. Dr. Moses Masamba Nthukah said the church will take the centre stage to fight the FGM menace through organising seminars for the teenagers and youth.
“We have realised through our own local networking that the menace of teenage pregnancy is rampant in Mbeere region and we have organised a seminar for the young people where they will be sensitized on sexuality and spirituality,” Bishop Masamba said.
The bishop who also recommended introduction of sex education in the school curriculum however pointed out that this should be done in consultation with the church in order to come up with appropriate content and syllabus.
On female genital mutilation, Bishop Masamba observed that parents should embrace the alternative rite of passage where seminars are organised for teenage girls to be guided and counselled on matters related to character building and sexuality among others.
“We need to trace the reason behind prevalence of the rite in our society so as to take appropriate steps to intervene. For instance some families are held hostage by fears of a curse following the words spoken by their deceased grandparents to the effect that no girl in that family should be spared being cut,” noted the Bishop.
However he observed that the church is assisting those families by breaking the curses and setting the families free so they are able to make sound decisions without fear of these spoken words.
The bishop made the remarks at Nyangwa Boys High school during an ongoing youth seminar.
The clergyman further said the church is networking with county government especially the department of gender in organising such workshops for young people.
Joan Mwende, County Executive Member in charge of Gender applauded the recent eight years jail sentence meted out to perpetuators of FGM by a Runyenjes law court saying this will send a strong deterrent message to other perpetuators.
Over 1, 600 men, women and youths from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda Congo and Burundi have congregating at Nyangwa Boys and other neighbouring schools since Monday for an annual convention that ended Friday.
By Kimani Tirus