Narrow escape for girl, 11, as Female Genital Mutilation season kicks in

When she was woken up by her mother last Wednesday to attend an “important ceremony” in Sowe village of Elgeyo Marakwet County, Mercy Chemutai (not her real name), did not think the day would end with a brush with death.

The eleven-year-old girl was forced to undergo the outlawed Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) together with her two sisters aged 13 and 15, then bled for several hours before a Good Samaritan took her to hospital.

“My mother woke me up early that day with my sisters and took us to a bush in Endoo, where some women performed the rite. I bled for a long time, until a neighbour rushed me to hospital,” narrates Chemutai, who has been admitted to Chesongoch Mission Hospital for seven days.

Last week, it was reported that armed youth were guarding 1,200 circumcised girls recuperating at secluded camps in Kerio Valley. Other cases have also been reported in West Pokot and other areas of the country where FGM is still practised despite its ban.

Chesongoch Hospital’s nurse-in-charge, Bernadette Nzuve, said they received a minimum of three cases like Chemutai’s every circumcision season (usually during the December school holidays) despite enhanced sensitisation programmes against the vice.

Efforts to contact Kipchumwa Chief Ben Suter, in whose location the incident occurred, were futile as his office remained locked.

Marakwet East OCPD Emmanuel Rono said the girl’s mother was arrested on Wednesday evening.

When The Standard on Saturday caught up with Chemutai’s mother, who had visited her daughter at the mission hospital, she said: “She had to be circumcised because our culture says so.”

Despite the war on FGM, which began close to three decades ago, thousands of girls and women still undergo the outdated practice across the country.

In parts of West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo, Samburu, Narok Bomet, Migori, Kisii, Nyamira, Meru, Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado Wajir, Marsabit and Mandera counties, the female cut is still carried out rampantly, albeit covertly.

As the festive season kicks into high gear, numerous girls and women are undergoing the traditional but illegal rite of passage in villages across the country.

Speaking in Kisii on Thursday, Anti-FGM Board chairman Linah Kilimo admonished the medics said to be abetting the illegal practice and warned that stern action would be taken against them.

“How does a qualified medic get involved in such an outdated practice? If they are looking for more money, they should think of other sources,” said Kilimo.

Health Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri said there had been such allegations, especially Kisii and Kuria but no formal complaint had been filed.

“We want anyone with a complaint to register it with us. We are soon going to launch a hotline so that those with such complaints can report them immediately,” he said.

Action Aid’s programme officer in Kongelai region of West Pokot, Dinah Nyorsok, asked the Judiciary to speed up the legal process to help win the war against the dangerous cut.

Nyorsok also said most of the FGM cases take place in remote areas and residents find it difficult to seek legal redress in Kapenguria Town, the county capital, because it is too far away.