Parents, guardians cited as weak link in fight against FGM

Parents and guardians are the weakest links in the fight against FGM in Garissa county because they abate the crime, officials have said.

State and county officials on Saturday said parents are to blame for female genital mutilation because they are the ones who encourage their daughters to go for circumcision.

The officials spoke on Saturday during the marking of the international day of zero tolerance to FGM at Saretho in Dadaab sub-county.

Several speakers who included government officials, clerics and human rights activists pointed an accusing finger at the parents.

Garissa gender executive Zeinab Digale said fighting FGM will remain a tall order as long as parents and guardians who are charged with the responsibility of taking care of the children still encouraging their girls to undergo circumcision.

“It is good to be honest with each other and face the facts as they are. As government officials and other non-state actors, we might be doing all that is within our reach to fight this retrogressive cultural practice, but as long as it doesn’t have the goodwill of those charged with the responsibility of taking care of the young ones then we won't achieve much,” Digale said.

The executive, however, acknowledged that some progress had been made in the war. She said focus should remain on reaching out to the parents and guardians especially those in remote areas where FGM remains rampant.

County director for gender and culture Ahmed Hante said all stakeholders down to those at the village level must ensure that the circumciser and parents who are known to be carrying out the exercise are all arrested and taken to court.

According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, about 9.5 million girls below the age of 18 are cut every year. the Somali community leads at 98 per cent, followed by the Samburu at 94 per cent.

Officials said the nine-month-long closure of schools due to Covid last year led to a surge in cases. Many parents took advantage of the shutdown to have their daughters circumcised.

In December last year, Garissa county commissioner Meru Mwangi said the buck stops with administrators who are the eye of the government at the grassroots.

He spoke while receiving four female cutters who abandoned the practice and surrendered their paraphernalia.

In November 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta pledged to end FGM by 2022. That was eight years ahead of the 2030 global goal agreement by the United Nation members states.

Also present on Saturday in Dadaab were representatives from the National Gender and Equality Commission, Unicef, WomanKind, ActionAid, Usaid, PGI, MercyCorps, RCK and Red Cross.

Edited by P.O