Why the harmful female ‘cut’ won’t be eliminated soon in Kajiado

By Jeckonia Otieno

“When the chief is around, we have to pretend that we are abiding by the rules, but when we are alone, we practice it because it is our culture; we were cut yet our husbands loved us, so what is wrong with our girls being cut?”

It is a hot day in Mbilikani village, Kajiado County and a group of women have gathered to denounce the cultural practice, which is endemic in rural Kajiado.

Noticeably absent are men – young and old – except for one young man, Moses Mangati.

Mangati is watching the proceedings from a distance. Next to him is an elderly woman. She is the one who thinks there is nothing harmful about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and swears she cannot be part of the event.

Despite the fact that a number of women in the area support the war against the cut, a sizeable number still stick to the practice and take their girls for the procedure against all odds.

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-2009 reported that female genital cutting has declined from 38 per cent in 1998 to 27.1 percent. It was found that only about 15 percent of girls aged 15 and 19 have been cut compared to women aged 45 and 49. This could be due to the sustained pressure by government and different groups.

Segregate girls

Ministry of Health records show that the Maasai is among the leading communities in female genital cutting at 89 per cent only coming second to the Abagusii who have a 97 per cent prevalence rate. Taita / Taveta, Meru/Embu and Kikuyu complete the top five spots.

A report by Unicef in 2005 put Kenya among the top six African countries with the highest rate of females undergoing the cut. The group included Cameroon, Niger, Ghana, Tanzania and Senegal.

The UN agency highlights culture and religion as the greatest reasons fueling the cut. Other reasons such as parents believing that their daughters will remain virgins when they are cut also fuels the continuation of the practice.

Mangati, the young man who is watching the simulation from a distance, is not willing to talk to at first but later opens up and says most of his age mates would never marry a woman who is not cut.

“Our community loved women who have been cut and that has been passed down to the young people and it is difficult to find a moran marrying a lady who has not been cut,” says Mangati.

But part of the reason why he cannot move close to where the discussion is stems from the nature which sex is viewed that it should not be discussed openly.

Lanoi Parmuat, an anti-female genital mutilation campaigner in Kajiado, says for the war to be won there needs to be forums involving the whole community.

Parmuat says, “To talk to them, I have to get a group leader who they respect and are willing to listen to.”

She says group leaders influence other women.

This process, however, has its own shortcomings because in many cases women can meet and make resolutions but the moment men come home, all that they have learnt and decided on does not count.

Rebecca Ndutune is widowed. Her husband died 12 years ago when her last-born daughter was just three months and although most of her fellow girls having undergone the cut, Sophie is safe for now because there is no father to push her to undergo cut. Ndutune has vowed that she will never allow her daughter take part in the ritual.

Sophie is in Class Four and all three of her sisters underwent the cut and are now married.

Says Ndutune, “I want her to continue with her education and become the best she can; people have been pushing me to take her for the cut but I have refused.”

Probably if her father was alive, Sophie would have by now undergone the cut.

Marriage remains the major reason why girls are subjected to the cut. One woman says after the morans (warriors) graduate they are ready for marriage and a number of them like Mangati stick to culture and segregate girls who have not been cut hence the fear among parents.

Local leaders are also at a loss over what to do to completely get rid of the culture. Kikuru location chief Joshua ole Shira believes that if more boarding schools are constructed then more girls will be safe from the cut. He however, lauds religious organisations for the continued fight against the practice. The chief holds regular barazas where the leaders talk about the dangers of the cut.

Parmuat argues that community dialogues that involve all members of the community will be the only sure way to make people stop subjecting girls to the cut. Her argument is that engaging the young, the old, women, men and children is the sure to build consensus rather than teaching girls alone or women alone yet the moment the husbands come home everything is rubbished.