Girl sells parents’ miraa to pay for FGM
What you need to know:
- Two women, including a circumciser, set to appear in court for circumcising a 16-year-old girl at Amwathi Village in Igembe North, Meru County.
- Form Three student at Naathu Secondary School went missing on August 3, before she was found hidden in Ms Nthang’a’s house on August 13.
- She is said to have been lured into FGM by her circumcised friend, a daughter to the circumciser.
Two women, including a circumciser, are set to appear in court for circumcising a 16-year-old girl at Amwathi Village in Igembe North, Meru County.
Margaret Gakii is accused of conducting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) while Joyce Nthang’a (80) is accused of housing the girl.
Igembe North Deputy County Commissioner Charles Lang’at confirmed that the suspects are to be arraigned at Maua Law courts after their arrest last week.
According to Amwathi Sub-location area manager Samwel Mung’athia, the girl, a Form Three student at Naathu Secondary School went missing on August 3, before she was found hidden in Ms Nthang’a’s house on August 13.
LURED BY FRIEND
She is said to have been lured into FGM by her circumcised friend, a daughter to the circumciser, before she went for the cut without her parent’s knowledge.
“The girl was reported missing and we looked for her for more than a week. We received information that she had undergone FGM at Gakii’s home. Later, we discovered she was being nursed at a neighbour’s house by the circumciser’s daughter,” Mr Mung’athia said.
He maintained that the girl had gone behind the parents’ back and had raised money for the cut on her own.
According to Mr Mung’athia, the circumciser has been a stumbling block on the war against FGM in the area.
“We have learnt that she paid Sh10,000 to the circumciser. She raised the money by selling her parents’ miraa over a period of time,” he said.
CRITICAL CONDITION
Last month, two girls aged 15 and 17 years from Tiira Village, Igembe North, were rushed to hospital in critical condition after undergoing FGM.
Mutuati Assistant County Commissioner Robert Wang’ombe, said some parents were using the long holiday occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic to circumcise their girls.
Anti-FGM crusader Catherine Thiakunu noted they would be training anti-FGM champion in Igembe North and Igembe Central where the vice is rampant.
National government administrators have been on high alert in efforts to end the vice, which President Uhuru Kenyatta has committed to stop by 2022.
