County to create special wards for sexual violence victims

By JOSEPH MUCHIRI

Embu, Kenya: Embu County government plans to create special wards for victims of sexual violence in the region’s major hospitals.

The special wards will be created at Embu Level Five General Hospital and the sub-county hospitals to cater for women and girls who are raped or forced into Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Embu acting Governor Dorothy Nditi said the special sections will provide the right environment for the women to recuperate as well as receive psychosocial support.

Ms Nditi said the county government will also put up gender desks at police stations where sexually abused women can get special attention.

GENDER DESKS

She was responding to a request by Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Swaleh that gender desks be set up at police stations for victims of sexual violence as women were finding it hard to open up to male police officers manning the desks.

Nditi also cautioned women against perpetrating FGM, saying the rite is a crime and they should instead be at the forefront in fighting it.

In December last year, tens of girls in the county were forced to undergo the cut.

“It is unfortunate that women push their daughters to circumcision yet we are in the 21st century. The practice was okay in the olden days but it has now been passed by time,” she advised.

Nditi, who was speaking to women groups in Embu town, said FGM adversely affects the sexual lives of those who undergo it.