The Elgeyo Marakwet County Gender Sector Working Group (CGSWG) has called on the county government to allocate funds for the fight against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), given its high prevalence in the county.
Wilkista Akinyi from the Centre for Enhanced Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG) said there was need for the county to make a deliberate effort to allocate funds for the same saying whatever is not in the budget is hard to be implemented.
Akinyi said that the government ought to show some commitment to the anti-FGM campaign saying NGO’s only come in to supplement government’s efforts.
The Gender Group called for the promotion of gender responsive budgeting at both the county and national government level.
Speaking during a CGSWG meeting in an Iten hotel, members said it was sad that to date, the county is yet to establish a rescue centre for Gender Based Violence victims, saying events of last year, where hundreds of girls didn’t know where to run to escape FGM were a testament of the urgent need for the facility in the county.
The County Executive for Gender Purity Koima said while her department was willing to push for the establishment of the centre, the mode of allocation, where all the development funds go to the wards leaving nothing for county flagship projects had remained a major challenge.
“We had envisaged to have a rescue centre in Iten, however getting all wards to give us part of their allocation to build the same is quite a challenge,” she said.
The CGSWG also called on the county to come up with the anti -FGM and the gender mainstreaming policies saying they will greatly help in mobilizing resources from donors.
Sally Burer from rural women peace link said there were no gender desks in all police stations in Marakwet East sub county though it experiences most of the cases of FGM in the county.
The meeting also called for the strengthening of the referral pathway for victims of GBV to access justice and treatment easily, when they require them.
By Alice Wanjiru
