Four teen girls hospitalised in Isiolo after undergoing the 'cut'

Four girls aged between 11 and 14 years are admitted to Isiolo County Teaching and Referral Hospital after they were subjected to Female Genital Mutilation in Wabera ward, Isiolo North.

The minors were rescued by police officers from a house in Chechelesi where they had been detained following a tip-off from members of the public.

Isiolo Sub-County Police Commander Collins Sainna said a 32-year-old woman who was with the girls in the house and another woman suspected to be the mother to some of the survivors had been arrested.

“The two women aged 32 and 35 who we suspect facilitated the girls to undergo the painful procedure are assisting in ongoing investigations,” Mr Sainna told Nation.

The police boss said the probe will help establish where the harmful practice was carried out and when to aid in the arrest of the circumcisers.

He warned parents and guardians against abetting the vice and marrying off their girls warning that those found culpable will face the full wrath of the law.

“We will ruthlessly deal with any parent subjecting their daughters to the harmful practice,” he said, adding that the State was keen on the protection of girls’ rights.

While at home during holiday, school girls are at high risk of being subjected to the cut which exposes them to severe bleeding, urinary problems, infections, menstrual issues and complications during childbirth and increased risk of newborn death.

Activists say continuous anti-FGM campaigns and calls for girls to embrace alternative rite of passage would contribute massively in the fight to end FGM.

The incident comes five weeks after a six-month-old baby was subjected to the cut in Leparua, Oldonyiro ward.

The child’s father Dickson Kinyaga has already been charged with the offence of abetting the vice and is out on Sh300, 000 bond with hearing of the case scheduled to continue on December 20.