Meet Samuel Lolkitekui, retired police officer leading fight against harmful practices in Samburu
Mr Samuel Lolkitekui during an interview at his home in Suguta Mar Mar in Samburu County on August 23, 2024. He is a leading male champion against harmful practices.
What you need to know:
- They have been pitching camps in schools, churches and public barazas to sensitise learners and locals to the dangers of harmful cultural practices.
- His efforts have helped hundreds of girls in Suguta Marmar to escape FGM, child marriage and get a chance to go back to school.
On this chilly morning, we embark on a short journey from Maralal town to Suguta Mar-Mar, about 25 kilometres away.
At the Suguta Mar-Mar shopping centre, we branch on our right and drive through the all-weather road that seems to have recently undergone some repairs.
The weather is unforgiving. The ground is soggy and a bit slippery. It rained most part of the previous night.
Nevertheless, we manoeuvre our way through the stagnant water. On the side are vast tracts of land characterised by tall, green grass. Herds of cattle and goats are grazing.
After about a 30-minute drive, we make our way to the homestead of Samuel Lolkitekui in Longolat village.
We find Samuel leading his cows to the grazing field. He is a livestock farmer who keeps cattle and goats in this region that has been plagued by banditry.
“Welcome to our home,” he tells us.
He is a retired police officer. His service came to an end in 2017 and settled on livestock farming. Besides being a budding livestock farmer, Samuel has built a name for himself through his initiative to fight harmful practices and entrenching girls’ education in Samburu.
He tells Nation.Africa that he decided to rescue girls from the harmful cultural practices after seeing the suffering they were undergoing.
“I travelled extensively as a civil servant throughout the country and saw and learnt many things. I saw how we were being left behind as a community because of some retrogressive cultural practices that we were subjecting our girls to, including denying them education,” Samuel says.
Even before he retired, Samuel, who was working in the presidential escort unit, says he vowed that none of his daughters would be subjected to the cut, child marriage or fail to go to school. He worked under former presidents Daniel Moi, Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta.
“I stood firm against retrogressive culture that required my daughters to be cut. I said a big no and instead sent them to school. They have now all finished university and are working. I also influenced my brothers who also followed in my footsteps.”
The retired officer did not stop with his daughters and that of his brothers but started to engage other men, enlightening them on the dangers of subjecting their daughters to FGM, child marriage, and not taking them to school.
His campaign has seen him, together with other male champions, traverse the vast Samburu County spreading the gospel against FGM and child marriage.
They have been pitching camps in schools, churches and public barazas to sensitise learners and locals to the dangers of harmful cultural practices.
Their campaigns also involve enlightening locals on what the law says on FGM, child marriage and denying children education. They enlist the help of state and non-state actors.
His efforts have helped hundreds of girls in Suguta Marmar to escape FGM, child marriage and to get a chance to resume education.
“From the campaigns that we have been conducting across the county, it is good to note that cases of FGM and child marriage have greatly gone down. We also have many girls going to school. We are now vigilant in the villages against such outlawed cultural practices. If you empower a girl or a woman, you empower the entire community.”
Samuel was part of the Samburu elders involved in the Kisima Declaration in 2021. The historic Declaration saw the elders denounce FGM and child Marriage and affirmed their resolve to end the vice as directed by the government.
The elders were drawn from the six sacred mountains of Samburu. Their commitment to fighting FGM lifted a cultural curse on girls who have not undergone the cut.
The curse has been one of the drivers of FGM among the Samburu as girls opt to undergo the cut for social acceptance. The lifting of the cultural curse now means girls who had not been cut can be accepted in the community and can participate in cultural celebrations, activities and other rites they were barred from participating in.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta witnessed the Kisima Declaration.
The former president witnessed as Samburu elders performed cultural rites before making the solemn declaration to end FGM and child marriage.
The declaration, at Kisima grounds, is considered a sacred site among the Samburu, where blessings and solemn declarations are for the community.
The retired police officer confesses that it has not been easy to convince elders to abandon FGM, with some fearing that a curse would befall them for not cutting their girls.
His message to his community members is to embrace the empowerment of the girl child through education and shun outdated cultural practices. He observes that the way things are, FGM and child marriage will soon end.
“We cannot afford to be left behind. We must empower our girls just like other places are doing. There is joy in empowering the girl child. In the families that have embraced girl education, you can clearly tell the difference. They are all educated and in return coming back to uplift their families.”
Besides fighting harmful cultural practices, Samuel is also part of male champions from the county supporting women political participation and leadership.
The male champions are involved in the project dubbed Expanding Spaces for Women Political Participation in Kenya, which is being spearheaded by Uraia Trust with the support of UN Women and funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC).
The project aims to enhance the capacities of women leaders and create an enabling environment for women to engage in politics and governance freely and effectively.
The male champions have been beneficiaries of capacity building offered by Uraia Trust and UN Women that, among others, creates awareness on why it is important to involve women in political participation and leadership in their communities.
Capacity building is instrumental in changing the mindset and perception of men is some of the patriarchal communities that have for long resisted women leadership.
The initiative is being implemented in seven counties: Samburu, Kisii, Homa Bay, Embu, Kericho, Wajir, and Kajiado.
“It is important to involve women in our community in leadership. They form part of the majority, hence it would be unfair to sideline them. To ensure inclusive development, women need to be at the decision-making table,” he says.
Data
According to statistics from the Anti-FGM Board Kenya, the prevalence of harmful practice in Samburu decreased significantly, plummeting from 86 per cent in 2014 to 75.6 per cent in 2022.
Data from the Kenya Demographic & Health Survey 2022 reveals a 15 per cent prevalence in the country, indicating that 15 per cent of females aged 15 to 49 have undergone circumcision. This is a decrease from 21 per cent recorded in the 2014 survey.
In Samburu, child marriage stands at approximately 17 per cent, according to a Unicef survey.
This deeply entrenched practice not only violates the rights of women and girls but also hampers girls’ education on a global scale. In the past, the Samburu community witnessed rampant child marriages, with the bride price escalating with younger brides.
