Four girls in Embu treated for FGM and taken to safe house

Four girls who underwent female genital mutilation in Gitugi Village, Embu County, have been discharged from hospital and taken to a safe house for psychosocial support.

They will join their three cousins, who were rescued as they were being prepared to undergo the cut, at the rescue centre.

RAMPANT

The cut was carried out by a retired nurse.

Nominated MCA Sicily Warue said they were monitoring the progress of the girls, who are aged between eight and 12 years.

Ms Warue said the County Assembly of Embu would soon enact an anti-Female Genital Mutilation law to stop the rampant cases of circumcision of schoolgirls.

MCAs who are members of the Gender, Culture, Children and Social Services Committee said the outlawed practice was still common in the county due to lack of a county law and stringent penalties for circumcisers.

BILL

Speaking after visiting the Embu Level Five Hospital, Ms Warue said the committee was drafting the legislation that would prescribe stiff penalties for traditional female circumcisers.

The nominated MCA said she would lobby all female MCAs to back the legislation.

Ms Warue said male MCAs had also pledged to ensure the bill, which is still in the draft stage, would sail through in the County Assembly.

Nominated MCA Elizabeth Kibai urged her counterparts to support the proposed legislation when it is tabled in the Assembly in order to save girls from further abuse.

CLERICS

FGM is practised with the full knowledge of religious leaders, she said.

Ms Kibai urged clerics to be at the forefront in speaking out against female circumcision in Embu.

Joan Kiema, the County Executive Committee member for Gender, Culture, Children and Social Services, supported the move to draft a legislation to curb FGM.

Dr Kiema said FGM had not been effectively eliminated in Embu County due to lack of proper mechanisms to hunt down and prosecute circumcisers.