By Amoto Dennis Ndiewo
One hundred and ten underage girls have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Wajir since June amid vigorous campaigns against the vice, the county’s Coordinator for Children’s Services has revealed.
Jillo Roba was speaking at a sensitization seminar organized by the Anti-FGM Board in Wajir which brought together elders, clerics, human rights activist, local administrators and women.
Interestingly, parents stood accused of not only refusing to abandon the practice but also pretending in public to have abandoned the practice outlawed in 2011.
According to the participants, there was a spike in FGM cases during and after the Covid-19 pandemic which led to the closure of schools for a long period of time.
“Many parents took advantage of the long stay at home to force their girls to undergo the cut,” said Khalif Abdi Farah, an activist.
She said that as much as the Chiefs had intervened to curb the vice, it still was not easy for them to monitor the practice since there were cases where mothers secretly shipped their daughters to undergo the cut.
“This happens without the knowledge of the father, then how do you expect the chief to know even if he has his eyes on the ground?” she posed.
Anti-FGM Board national chair, Agnes Pareiyo noted that the lack of honesty by parents was to be blamed for the FGM spike.
She said that it was regrettable that the shunned practice was still being practiced at this time and age.
“To be honest with you, the problem lies solely with parents and guardians who take their daughters to face the cruel cut and hide the propagators of the same,” she said.
She added: “Were it not for the parents, we would not be here. Our daughters would be studying in school or online instead of being confined in pain.”
Wajir County Commissioner Jacob Narongo said that school enrolment was seriously low in the county especially for girls due to the practice in addition to early marriages.
He directed Chiefs and their assistants to present the names of the women cultivating the practice and forward their names to his office for disciplinary action.
He further asked them to ensure that all girls report to school every time schools reopen.
“The government remains steadfast in its efforts to fight the outlawed practice and ensure more children enroll in school. Those who fail to comply will meet the full force of the law,” he warned.
Maryam Hussein, a human activist said it was high time the stakeholders changed tact in fighting FGM, child marriage and low school enrolment.
She said that lately parents had been inviting circumcisers at a fee of Ksh.2,000 to secretly circumcise their daughters in remote regions with limited government watch.
“In such remote places, they can’t be caught easily as they secretly ship the victim elsewhere after the cut,” said Maryam.
Statistics indicate that the Somali community with less than 40% of their children in school with girls scoring even a lower percentage, leads the country in practicing FGM at 98%.
