Anti-FGM campaign begins to bear fruits in Kenya
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) prevalence in Kenya has declined by six per cent in the last three years.
The decline has been attributed to concerted effort by police officers, members of the provincial administration, children officers, gender, social development officers and cultural officers.
The revelation was made by Anti-FGM board chairperson Linah Jebii Kilimo during the graduation of more than 300 girls who had undergone alternative rite of passage at Ithima Polytechnic in Igembe Central sub-county.
However, Ms Kilimo said that the board intends to come up with ways of ensuring there is collaboration between women and the board in the fight against the vice.
EARLY MARRIAGES
“We have been facing various hurdles on the way, the major one being lack of enough manpower after some of the personnel who were working there were deployed to other ministries and the county governments,” she said, pointing out that Igembe is one of the hot spots for FGM.
She said that many communities which still practice FGM were pushing for the cut during the current school holidays but the board had ensured that the number of such cases had reduced compared to last year with the national prevalence standing at 21 per cent.
The programme’s coordinator Catherine Kathure said there were many bright girls from the area but were not able to complete their education after being subjected to FGM leading to early marriages.
“We want to empower our girls so that they can be dependent by way of pursuing their own careers and stand tall in the society,” she said.
