Maslaha, FGM and early marriages cited as greatest threats to girl child in Garissa

Female genital mutilation, early marriages and the maslaha system of solving rape cases remain the greatest threats to the girl child among Northeastern communities, a Garissa county official has said.

Ahmed Mohamed, the Gender and Culture director, called for concerted efforts by county government, development partners and the State Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government in the eradication of the retrogressive practices.

Mohamed cited maslaha as a major hindrance to administration of justice for rape victims.

"It has become a communal responsibility to raise money to settle rape cases by elders. The end result is that the rapist evades justice and ends up being a serial rapist," he said on Thursday as the country joined the rest of the world in marking  16 days of activism against gender-based violence.

The occasion, whose theme is Orange the World; Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect, is being held at Modagashe in Lagdera subcounty.

Some 21 Garissa-based non-governmental organisations are participating under the Garissa County Gender Technical Working Group.

The NGOs are are united in the fight against violence on women.

Mohamed said the county government had created a gender-based office to deal with cases of rape, FGM, discrimination, violence and exploitation against women.

The docket is headed by gender-based violence officer Zeitun Aden and is domiciled at the Garissa County Referral Hospital.

 The office offers psycho-social support, physical examination and case documentation to victims. 

Lagdera subcounty administrator Olat Aden urged the local community to be proactive in the prevention of violence against women while assistant county commissioner Dennis Kioko said tough action would be taken against the perpetrators of the vices.

Kioko told chiefs to be more aggressive in the elimination of gender-based violence.