Migori County Director for Gender Mr. Kennedy Oomo has said that gender based violence, FGM and early marriage are still some of the major problems affecting the girl child.
Oomo who chaired a gender committee that brought various stakeholders from the education, health and gender department said that the county has made tremendous efforts to curb the GBV as well as FGM by almost 50 percent.
He said that girls have been forced to drop out of school because of forced marriages brought by early and teenage pregnancies.
On issues of FGM the director noted that there was intelligence on individuals that were planning on the same but assured that already the relevant authority is alert on the same. He, however, acknowledged that cross border FGM still remains the biggest hindrance to the eradication of the vice.
The official pinpointed that other forms of GBV were cropping up, especially among cervical cancer patients. He said that ignorance, poverty and belief in witchcraft were some of the reasons that contributed to GBV in cervical cancer patients. He noted that some of the cancer patients were being chased away and abandoned by their close family members in the belief that they have been bewitched.
Migori Women Enterprise Officer Ms. Judity Mwangi said that they have been collaborating with other actors in the county to ensure that women are economically empowered. She said that economic empowerment was a major voice in fighting GBV.
Mwangi said that the major factor contributing to GBV was poverty and lack of income which resulted in women’s dependency on men.
“If a woman is empowered economically she is able to feed and take care of her children and entire family”, noted Mwangi.
She said that the women’s enterprise funds have been at the forefront of training and sensitizing women on entrepreneurship and income generation. The official also added that they have been offering counselling services in partnership with health officials to affected families and victims of GBV.