This archive report was first published on 15 June 2020.
Published on June 15, 2020, Chief Administrative Secretary for Gender and Public Service Rachel Shebesh has revealed that cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) have increased in Kenya following the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking in Nanyuki town, Shebesh regretted that the pandemic had negatively impacted government programmes aimed at reducing the practice, leading to a regression in areas where progress had been made.
“Because we are in this situation where people are being urged to stay at home due to the virus, we have noticed that in some of the areas where we had progressed against FGM we’re now regressing since the retrogressive practise is being carried on at the confines of homes,” Shebesh said.
Shebesh added that her ministry had revised its approach to curb the vice and would visit all 22 counties where FGM is rife, including Laikipia, to reinforce the message that the practice is bad and arrest those found practising it.
Laikipia Governor Nderitu Muriithi, who accompanied Shebesh during the function, urged women and youths in the area to apply for Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) and Youth Enterprise Funds (YEF) from the national government to advance their business ventures.
The CAS and the Governor also inspected the ongoing rehabilitation of the Nairobi-Nanyuki railway line at the Nanyuki terminus, which is expected to be complete by the end of the month at a cost of Ksh 3 billion.
