Migori activists raise alarm over FGM plot

Anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) activists in the Kuria region have raised concerns about a plot to secretly resume the outlawed practice next month after the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam.

They say circumcisers are taking advantage of the two-month school break to perpetuate the vice after it was disrupted during the December holidays. They called for heightened vigilance by authorities to rein in those trying to evade the law.

This emerged on Friday at the end of three-day training of 200 women and youth activists in surveillance in Kehancha town, Migori County. The event was organised by Msichana Empowerment, a non-governmental organisation. It also brought on board chiefs, police officers, reformed circumcisers and elders.

The Kuria community often carries out annual circumcision of boys and girls as a rite of passage to adulthood in open ceremonies that begin with prayers in shrines. The four clans of Bugumbe, Nyabasi, Bwirege and Bukira take part.

Prosecution

Last season, the children’s department rescued hundreds of minors and arrested over 60 parents who were charged in court and some jailed for six years after admitting guilt for abetting FGM. The government seeks to eliminate the practice by the year end, despite any hurdles still standing in its way.  

“We have realised that there are plans for circumcisers to move from house to house at night instead of cultural centres for communal circumcision to avoid detection,” Kuria West children’s officer James Omondi said.

“We rely heavily on information from community members to make arrests, thwart circumcision and rescue girls; we need to build on this surveillance.”

Mrs Jackline Murimi, a former circumciser, said she stopped three years ago after two of her colleagues were arrested.

“We knew it was illegal, but after two colleagues were arrested and sentenced in court, I stopped. I was trained in negative effects. Others who still circumcise girls opt to move in homes at night,” she said.

The activists said it has been hard to keep tabs on the new trend as relatives and older mothers have turned into circumcisers unlike before when a single circumciser was sourced within an area.

“This is often done at odd hours and time, with teachers being the only link who alerts us. In case of celebrations, girls are often given boys’ clothes to cheat arrest,” said Mrs Magdalene Majuma, a director at Msichana Empowerment Organisation.

 “We are afraid that FGM will now go underground and happen in homes to avert arrests. We saw this for the first time last year, but we are here to prepare adequately.”

Swift response

Mrs Majuma said the team will help in alerting chiefs, their assistants and the police to move swiftly and avert FGM.

“We succeeded when elders said during cultural practices to begin circumcision that they would not include girls, but others are still adamant. In other urban areas where the vice has gone underground, even medics are procured, we don’t want Kuria to move that way,” she said.

Mabera children’s officer Janet Robi said, “The school holiday calendar changed and the one-week December holiday was short for the rites to be concluded. The vice has now spilled over to January, interfering with school programmes in the Kuria region.”

She noted that they were forced to keep the children at Manga Children’s Home as cases against their parents continue. They are prosecution witnesses against their parents.

“We arraigned their parents and placed them in custody while they should be in school; we have since repatriated them to their homes after they testified against their guardians,” said Mrs Robi.

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