This archive report was first published on 8 November 2019.
On a significant day in November 2019, President Uhuru Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta welcomed community elders and religious leaders from 22 counties to State House, Nairobi, to make a commitment to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Kenya by 2022.
The declaration by the opinion leaders, who are most affected by FGM, is in support of President Kenyatta's earlier pledge to eradicate the practice in the country by 2022.
Josephat Murangiri, the Secretary General of the supreme governing council of the elders of the Meru people (the Njuri Ncheke), read the elders' declaration, saying, 'We appreciate the Government of Kenya's efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation through creating and implementing progressive policies and legislative frameworks and programmes towards its eradication.'
As part of their Anti-FGM efforts, the elders committed to collaborate and work with both the national and county governments and other stakeholders in creating awareness within their communities on the need to promote education and the well-being of the girl child.
President Kenyatta thanked the elders and religious leaders for agreeing to lead the onslaught against the retrogressive practice and assured them of government's backing.
He called on Kenyans to shun destructive practices like FGM and embrace progressive cultural activities that bestow honor and dignity on women and girls.
The President tasked government officials in the line ministries of gender, education, health, and public administration to take the lead in championing government efforts aimed at ending FGM in all parts of the country.
