This archive report was first published on 6 September 2019.
Published on September 6, 2019, a court in Meru County has handed down a three-year jail sentence or a Ksh. 200,000 fine to five women who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM).
The women, Florence Kiende, Caroline Wanja, Charity Karimi, Charity Muthoni, and Winfred Kawira, pleaded guilty to the charges of seeking and undergoing FGM from an initiator on different occasions.
The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011, criminalises the practice, which attracts a punishment of between three years and life imprisonment.
The Kenyan Government has prioritised the fight against FGM, with the launch of the National Policy for Eradication of FGM, 2019, by Public Service, Youth and Gender CS Margaret Kobia.
“It provides for the review and harmonisation of all gender-related laws and policies to align them to the Constitution,” the CS told a local daily.
