Over 50 girls from the Kuria community have been rescued from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and several suspects arrested as both Kenya and Tanzania security lead joint operations.
The community cuts across the border of the two countries and last week security and stakeholders against the vice from the met to streamline joint operations.
“We organized the joint meeting and already through sharing intelligence we have zeroed down on notorious cutters who are stationed in border villages for the illegal acts,” Charles Olwamba, an officer with Amref Health Africa said.
He said that because of heightened scrutiny Boda Boda operators have been hired to do cuts for girls at night from door to door, with worries that the school opening slated for January 24 will see more cases.
Olwamba said the meeting has supported several sectors' approach across the border and soon they will help marshall resources to put up rescue centers for girls.
“We need to harmonize laws against the vice between the two countries as they are lenient in Tanzania and also courts cases to be fast tracked,” Olwamba said.
Daudi Ibrahim, the Tarime district police boss in Tanzania and Andrew Mwiti, the Kuria West sub-county commissioner said sharing intelligence has seen suspects being nabbed on time.
“We will stop cutters and girls from moving across the border for the cut and to evade justice, we have been sharing information on time and have several cutters' movements being trailed through intelligence,” Ibrahim said.
Mwiti said on December 8, a raid at Ntunyigi village at the border rescued five girls aged between 12 and 13 years from the cut.
“We held the minors at Kehancha police station as their parents and circumcisers escaped,” Mwiti said.
The police boss said that despite the government placing 2022 as ‘Zero Tolerance” against the vice, they will bolster the gains made in eradicating the vice in communities where it is practiced and ensure a conducive learning environment for girls.
“President Ruto has picked anti-FGM fight commitment from where his predecessor left and as government, we will include all other stakeholders to tackle and eradicate the vice completely,” Mwiti said.
From August, stakeholders from the two countries have been organizing several barazas and meetings which included elders, Boda Boda riders, chiefs and local police which have bore fruit.
The riders are targeted as they are the main means of transport along the borders, their capability to penetrate impassable roads that vehicles cannot access and also that they are in close contact with the local community and hence understand the assignment better than the majority.
The four Kuria clans of Bwirege, Nyabasi, Bugumbe and Bukira, as well as Renchoka, and Bumera clans in Tanzania are planning for the cut.
Data from the anti-FGM board indicate that about 3,000 girls were subjected to cross-border FGM in 2020 in Kenya while the Bumera of Tanzania and Renchoka subjected more than 800 girls to FGM.
“We have girls and families who cross the border from both sides for the cut. This can be stopped by increasing vigilance for arrests, this is our main agenda,” Migori County Gender Director Kenneth Oomo said.
According to the official that the impact of FGM activities at the grassroots level had reduced by 50 percent, adding that they are still on the course to wipe out the vice entirely from the region by the end of this year.
