The Narok County Government has ordered all school girls to be medically checked for evidence of Female Genital Mulation (FGM) and pregnancy.Area County Commissioner George Natembeya said the tests will begin in January next year.
Mr. Natembeya said that the move is geared towards identifying and prosecuting parents who force their daughters to undergo FGM. He also warned men who impregnate school girls that they will also face the law and the victims taken to a rescue centre.
Natembeya further directed chiefs to relay information related to pregnant school girls and FGM cases through relevant channels of command as mandated.Evelyn Musyoka, an official from the Anti-FGM Board Kenya, cautioned girls to be wary of strange men out to exploit them and interfere with their studies.
Veronicah Karei HSC, also advised parents to support teachers in the fight against the vice.She also said digital monitoring and addition of female chiefs as administrators could help in sustaining the girl-child through school.
On his part, Natembeya lauded local churches for initiating counselling programs for pregnant girls as well as their families and local administrators.The Pentecostal Assemblies of God churches are expected to host students between November 17 to 27.
Pregnant school girls will also have their own private session with the church team from December 3-8.
It is estimated that about 130 million girls are currently living with the effects of FGM. A further two million girls are at a risk of the practice. Societies that practice FGM in Kenya believe that it is an initiation into adulthood and prevents the woman from becoming promiscuous.
There are two types of operations involved in FGM in Kenya; Circumcision, which involves cutting of the prepuces or hood of the clitoris. There is also Excision, which involves the cutting of the clitoris together with all or part of the labia minora.
A woman was arrested on Wednesday in Tharaka-Nithi for forcing her 12-year-old twin girls to undergo the ‘cut’.
County Commissioner Muzne Abdullatif said her office received a tip off from officers working with Plan International, a non-governmental organisation, that the two girls had undergone the ‘cut’.
Ms Abdullatif said the girls, who were circumcised two weeks ago, were placed in a safe shelter.
The mother of the girls, who declined to disclose the circumciser, said she made her girls to undergo the ‘cut’ so as to avoid a family.