Tharaka Nithi County Commissioner (CC) Ms. Beverly Opwora has sent a stern warning to chiefs and their assistants who fail to act on cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in their respective areas of jurisdiction will soon be getting marching orders.
She cautioned that the government would be very ruthless in dealing with the cases as some parents might be tempted to take their children through the outlawed cultural practice during the lengthy December holiday.
“Beware that you will be responsible for all FGM cases that will be reported from your areas. If such a case takes place in your area of jurisdiction you may as well hand over your uniform before we catch up with you,”stressed Ms. Opwora, adding that all chiefs who fail to arrest culprits of this heinous act have no business working for the government.
She said that the national government was in a mission of making Kenya an FGM free state by 2022 which is highly reliant on the local administration to make the dream come true.
Speaking while leading the County Implementation Coordination Committee (CDICC) in a site visit to inspect the implementation of national government projects in Igambang’ombe Sub- county yesterday.
Despite the efforts from the government to curb the practice, some communities have remained reluctant in doing away with this old age cultural practice. Cases are usually on the rise during holidays since perpetrators have adequate time with their girls.
The County Commissioner further called on residents of the area to cooperate with land adjudication officers in order to hasten the process enabling them acquire land tenure documents thus make their lands viable economically.
