• They said they want to make information sharing with authorities easier in both countries to protect girls.
• They said stationing police officers at the porous border where girls are sneaked into and out of both countries at night will help eradicate the vice.
Image: /FILE
Anti-FGM crusaders from Kuria community in Kenya and Tanzania have launched a joint effort to end the outlawed practice.
At a meeting in Kehancha town, the activists said they will work with authorities to stop cross-border female genital mutilation through joint collaboration.
They said they want to make information sharing with authorities easier in both countries to protect girls.
They said stationing police officers at the porous border where girls are sneaked into and out of both countries at night will help eradicate the vice.
“Our key goal is to work as a team with the government to end FGM,” Tunaweza Empowerment Programme leader Catherine Boke said.
Efforts by the government to end the practice in Kuria have yet to bear fruit. President Uhuru Kenyatta made a commitment in 2016 to end the vice by 2022.
In December, about 400 girls were rescued and 80 people arrested in connection with FGM.
Activists fear the number could go up as schools close for the end of the 2021 school calendar. Schools are expected to close next month for two months.
The activists said circumcisers from the community have changed the circumcision season to March-April to align with the school calendar. In previous years, circumcision was usually carried out in December.
They say although some girls were rescued during the Christmas holiday, a large number underwent the cut.
In 2020, about 3,000 girls were subjected to FGM. Last year, two clans, Bumera of Tanzania and Renchoka from both countries, subjected more than 800 girls to FGM.
“We have girls and families who cross the border from both sides for the cut. This can be stopped by increasing vigilance for arrests, this is our main agenda,” Global Media Campaign director of communications Jeremiah Kipainoi said.
There have been calls to set up more rescue centres for girls fleeing the cut in both countries.
“There is need to be change. The cutters do not feel the pinch due to the low fines. They earn millions of shillings just by carrying out the vice,” Sadick Hunga, a reporter at Star TV and Radio at Mara Region in Tanzania, said.
In Tanzania under the Sexual Offences Special Provision Act 1998, those convicted of the crime are imprisoned for five to 15 years or fined up to TSh300,000 (Ksh14,471).
Last year, elders from the Kuria community in Migori county signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to end female genital mutilation in the region.
The elders from the four sub-clans of Kuria community pledged their commitment to helping in the fight against FGM.
The community's four subclans include Nyabasi, Bagumbe, Bairege and Bakira.
The Kuria elders said FGM has over the years resulted in negative challenges including early pregnancies, school dropouts among girls, early marriages and numerous birth complications.
Edited by A.N