WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS ON FGM(Female Genital Mutilation)

The Government has supported calls for introduction of new laws to impose harsh penalties against those practicing female genital mutilation (FGM).

Gender and Children Affairs Minister Esther Murugi, while supporting proposals made earlier by Members of Parliament, said only four communities of 42 do not practice the vice.

Mirugi says, the situation was worse in Somalis and Boranas of Northern Kenya with 99 per cent of women undergoing FGM. Among the Mijikenda it is five per cent. "Among the Abugusii, the practice is 96 per cent and in Maasai it is 94 per cent," she said.

Murugi while speaking at the two-day capacity building workshop on FGM for parliamentarians at Lake Naivasha Simba Lodget, said it was time harsh rules were imposed to curb this vice. The Workshop was aimed to sensitise the audience and support the proposed law. Murugi said the vice was on the increase in Central Kenya, with 23 per cent of girls getting ‘cut’ annually. "We are lobbying our male counterparts in the House to support the coming Motion against FGM so that we can do away with this crude vice," she said.

She said chiefs and their assistants had been ordered to arrest parents subjecting minors to the culture, adding that they would be charged under the Children’s Act. Some participants at the capacity building workshop on FGMwept after watching a documentary where a three-year-old girl was being circumcised.

During the opening session, the MPs expressed shock on learning that half the country’s women population has undergone the rite, most between the age of 10 and 15.