The Kenya Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board through their programmes officer Mr Nyerere Kutwa downplayed any insinuation that the fight against the vice ended with the departure of the former president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Instead, Mr Kutwa insisted that the directive to end the outdated cultural practice by the end of 2022 was from the office of the president and not from the bearer.
Similarly, Mr Kutwa outlined that President William Ruto equally recognizes the need to save the girls from the cut and has promised to increase allocations where need be.
“The fight against FGM did not go with the former president Uhuru Kenyatta. The directive was from the office and hence our current president is equally up to the task,” stated Mr Kutwa.
The official was speaking in Tarime Tanzania, where he led a delegation of Kenya Anti-FGM crusaders across the border to brainstorm on a way forward with their counterparts from Tanzania.
This engagement comes at the time when the schools are headed for a long holiday session and at the same time there is an anticipated December circumcision ceremony among the Kurian community.
During the two-day session held a hotel in Tarime town, about 40kms from the common border, issues to do with plans and preparations to save girls from facing the knife were outlined where each official relayed milestones toward achieving zero cases of Female Genital Mutilation.
Among key issues included conducting of public meetings as early as November, where elders from the clans poised to do the cutting shall be invited to rebuke cutting female children. Also intensifying the use of bodaboda riders across the border to propagate the messages which discourage the vices.
The riders are targeted as they are the main means of transport along the borders, their capability to penetrate impassable roads that vehicles cannot access and also that they are in close contact with the local community and hence understand the assignment better than the majority.
It was also evident that all four Kuria sub tribes are headed to circumcision ceremonies in December; hence, more awareness campaigns are needed.
Although all systems are set go in waiting to curb any possible FGM activities, challenges to do with dishonesty are still a stumbling block in the fight against eradicating the vice in the region.
This was highlighted by Migori County Director of Gender Reverent Kenneth Oomo who told the forum that despite creating an enabling environment for Anti-FGM activists and other stakeholders, some clan elders are conning the state by giving false assurance.
“We are trying to include all players which also incorporates clan elders in the fight against the vice, however, we are aware of some who are dishonest. They lie to us in the daytime but back at home they are the main champions who cut our girls,” lamented Rev Oomo.
He noted that the impact of FGM activities at the grassroots level had reduced by 50 percent, adding that they are still on the course to wipe out the vice entirely from the region by the end of this year.
He declared the need to have a special publication entailing all the positive responses and the milestones covered so that people don’t forget where they are from and are headed.
With only a month left before the circumcision ceremony begins in the Kuria regions both in Kenya and Tanzania, crime busters that included local chiefs and police officers have agreed to work together to patrol along the border, which has been porous and allowing discrete passage of the culprits.
Regional community engagement police officer Tarime Roria district superintendent Daudi Ibrahim stated that they identified that mostly FGM crimes are most often conducted between 2:00am when most people are asleep. Together with Kuria West police commander Mr Kileti Kimaiyo, he said the perpetrators will be very lucky to escape this time.
The Cross border Anti-FGM task force included community policing, Gender and Children’s Officers, local Anti-FGM activists, journalists and law enforcers from Kenya and Tanzania.