• Concern has been raised over the safety of initiates under traditional set-ups following several deaths.
• Tiriki Supreme Council of Elders chairman Oscah Bulemi dismissed the bill and wondered how one can ban a cultural practice.
Image: FILE
Traditional methods of circumcision will be outlawed if Parliament enacts Kandara MP Alice Wahome's Bill on non-medical male cut.
Traditional circumcision ceremonies are common among the Bukusu, Tiriki, Kalenjin, Meru and Maasai. Circumcision is also done for religious reasons among Christians, Muslims and Judaists.
Wahome's Health (Amendment) Bill, 2020, restricts male circumcision to medically safe and hygienic conditions.
It further seeks to regulate the practice such that it is performed by trained and registered persons.
The national and county governments will be required to formulate policies which guide male circumcision to avert incidents, some of which can be fatal.
The policies will ensure the safety of male circumcision which must be performed in hygienic environments.
Apart from restricting the cut to trained and registered persons, the Bill demands that the initiate’s health condition be checked prior to the ceremony.
“The objective of the policies shall be to provide mechanisms for the religious or customary mentorship and counselling of young initiates,” the Bill reads.
Church leaders and community elders have differed on who should counsel the initiates.
Concern has also been raised on the hygienic conditions and the safety measures employed in traditional set-ups, which in some instances are blamed for the death of initiates.
On August 22, two boys aged seven and five bled to death in Lundi village, Mwingi East sub-county, after circumcision gone awry.
A 15-year-old KCPE candidate died in November 2018 while healing after being circumcised in Kandara. Julian Kanyonyo was beaten to death by men who had initiated him to manhood.
A 16-year old boy from Elgeyo Marakwet died in same period after undergoing traditional initiation rites. Doctors at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital said he had pneumonia.
Another 16-year-old died in unclear circumstances after the cut at Kamirithu in Limuru. He was with a caretaker.
There have been numerous reports of gangs forcing boys of about 10 years of age to be circumcised in Meru.
Tiriki Supreme Council of Elders chairman Oscah Bulemi dismissed the Wahome Bill and wondered how one can attempt to ban a cultural practice.
“Is the proposer aware of how long we have practised circumcision as a right of passage? Can she show statistics of how many people have died due to this?” Bulemi asked.
“This thing started long ago. Joshua (biblical) circumcised Israelites using stones from the river after God commanded him to do so. Now they want to tell us to go to hospital.”
Bulemi said traditional circumcisers are educated and know what to do medically.
“We are not as primitive as they think. They will face us during public participation,” the elder said.
- mwaniki fm