• Two hundred Kuria women and youths were trained for three days with chiefs, police, former circumcisers and elders.
•Migori is among 21 counties where FGM is still rampant and the practice will not end this year as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Image: MANUEL ODENY
Gender activists in the Kuria community say the illegal practice of FGM, which used to be openly celebrated, is being forced underground.
Sustained pressure from the government is making it difficult to celebrate the mutilation in the open. Sometimes girls are now dressed as boys so they don't attract attention.
The community in Migori often carries out annual circumcision for both boys and girls as a rite of passage to adulthood. Girls are not considered marriageable until they are cut.
Open ceremonies begin with prayers in shrines for four clans of Abagumbe, Abanyabasi, Abairege and Abakira.
During December holidays, sustained effort from activists, police, local administrators and well-wishers ensured girls’ circumcision was largely disrupted.
Kuria West Children Officer James Omondi said in December they rescued more than 300 girls from circumcision in the Kuria area. About 120 of them are now in shelters.
He said 65 circumcised girls were taken to Manga Children's Remand prison after their parents were arrested and charged with committing or abetting the offence
“We realised most circumcisers have been moving from house to house at night instead of cultural centres for communal circumcision to avoid detections,” Omondi said.
He also said during celebrations, girls are often given boys' clothes to conceal the crimes.
“We relied heavily on word from community members to make arrests and thwart circumcision and also rescue girls. We need to build on this surveillance," Omondi said.
He was speaking in Kehancha town on Friday at the end of three-days' training of 200 women and youth activists across Kuria.
They were trained on surveillance by Msichana Empowerment, a NGO, which also brought together chiefs, police, former circumcisers and elders.
“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. We are here to prepare adequately,” Magdalene Majumah, a Msichana Empowerment officer, said.
She said the team will help in alerting chiefs, their assistants and police to move swiftly and avert circumcision.
“We succeeded when elders said during cultural practices to launch circumcision they will not include girls, but others are still adamant that it must be done.
In other urban areas where the vice has gone underground, even medics are procured. We don't want Kuria to move that way,” Majumah said.
Jackline Murimi, a former circumciser, said she stopped the exercise 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 choose to stop when I was trained on negative effects.
"Others who still circumcise girls move in homes at night,” she said.
The three said the FGM calendar was disrupted in December with the change of the education calendar and huge pressure from administration.
They said they fear the practice will pick up again from April when KCSE exams will be over.
Migori is among 21 counties in Kenya where FGM is still rampant.
It is clear the practice will not end in 2022 as directed by president Uhuru Kenyatta.
(Edited by V. Graham)