This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
December 23, 2019
Young girls in West Pokot have taken matters into their own hands, circumcising each other in secret after elderly women circumcisers stopped the practice following a government ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
According to girls interviewed by The Standard, they can no longer withstand the pressure from their peers since the stigma associated with uncircumcised girls in the region runs deep.
"We cut each other. We know how it is done and we don’t fear. We just buy razor blades and go to a secret place where we perform the circumcision," said a Class Seven pupil.
Some girls have opted to perform the procedure on their own to avoid scorn from their female and male age mates, as most of the female circumcisers have been arrested and jailed following stern laws against the practice.
Domtilla Chesang, a director with I-Rep Foundation, an NGO that fights FGM, said the government needs to shift focus on the new trend and undertake proper research to understand why the girls are so desperate to undergo the practice, even after it has been outlawed.
Ms Chesang argued that the current anti-FGM law does not explain the action that should be taken on those who circumcise themselves, and that the girls need to be penalised for such actions.
