'Meru politicians ignoring FGM for fear of losing popularity'
Youth and Gender CAS Rachel Shebesh addresses chiefs and sub chiefs at Chuka University, Tharaka Nithi county during an anti FGM sensitization campaign. The programme is run by the National Government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Tharaka Nithi County is among 22 counties flagged as FGM prone counties.
What you need to know:
- Men urged to take leadership in ending FGM. Fathers should protect their daughters.
- Circumcision of boys is pushing married women into the cut.
- Rise in FGM in Meru County attributed to little concentration of organisations advocating against the culture.
- Representative for youth anti-FGM Network Kenya, Mr Harrison Lekerio decried the political leaders’ alienation from the fight on grounds of keeping their popularity.
“Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an issue of women.” This is a common phrase that hits the ears of Ms Kate Thiakunu, an anti-FGM advocate and member of Men end FGM movement, during their sensitisation drives in Meru County, where they are based.
But it is an attitude that beats the efforts to end FGM in Kenya. For Ms Thiakunu and her fellow anti-FGM champions, it takes a retrospective approach to excite change among the men.
“We usually ask them ‘how many times have you found your wife has sold your land, cows and miraa and you have kept quiet?’ They say it has never happened,” she said while sharing her experiences in the fight against the harmful practice during a February 2, webinar themed From Cut to Hope organised by Mtoto News.
“So then we ask them, ‘Is that property more valuable than your daughter?” she added.
She said men cannot run away from the responsibility of protecting their daughters.
Protect daughters
“I urge men to take leadership in ending FGM. Fathers should protect their daughters,” she said.
She noted that circumcision of boys is pushing married women into the cut. This is because those who are uncut are disallowed from taking care of the circumcised sons during the healing period.
She attributed rise in FGM in Meru County to little concentration of organisations advocating against the culture.
“For instance in Nyambene region, you may find three or four organisations yet the population is very high,” she said.
They are, however, using the clergy who attract a large congregation to disseminate the information, she said
Laikipia County representative for youth anti-FGM Network Kenya, Mr Harrison Lekerio decried the political leaders’ alienation from the fight on grounds of keeping their popularity.
“Politicians don’t want to get involved in FGM issue because they think they will lose votes and probably, they won’t be re-elected in 2022,” he said.
He said it was important to sensitise the community against stigmatising those who have undergone FGM as this is a disincentive to creating a society free of not just the vice, but also FGM-related discrimination.
Naret Intoiye, co-founder Ms Matilda Timpiyian Saropa, urged girls to stand up against the vice and reject the pressure to fit in.
“Be ready to say no. Don’t get mutilated to please anyone,” said Ms Intoiye.
