Appeared on People Daily on 24th June 2025
Focused inquiry on the history and origin of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) yields almost to naught. There is no solid and outstanding reason as to why FGM was introduced and continues to be practiced to date. All efforts to justify this as a cultural, religious, scientific, medical or a social practice are not only laughable but must be discouraged ethically, morally, legally, scientifically, religious and of course through strict legal and policy backed consequences.
I had an opportunity to watch a “FGM surgery” video clip of a young girl undergoing untold suffering in the hands of grownups who seemed not to care about the pain the child was going through. It left me vile, uneasy and literally shaken as to why mature women had to take a child through such as horrific operation. It remains to me, a warped mental nihilism to imagine that taking someone through unnecessary pain to save her from becoming a social misfit.
The hallowed religious books have not sanctioned FGM and those who try to use the religious doctrines to attempt a justification are imps and as guilty as the moral ills they purport to challenge. God created man and nature in all the fullness and therefore whoever feeling that scrapping off or part of that creation is ideally questioning the very God’s wisdom in putting man and woman in particular anatomical formulae. As they say, kazi ya mungu haina makosa– Gods craft is flawless.
Biologically, every part of human being’s anatomy serves and plays a specific and precise function and therefore unless a certain part of the body is a threat to the existence of a human life, there should be no reason whatsoever to amputate and or modify that organ. More so, any medical operation involving human beings must be backed by scientific research and not just muffled fancies that doing so fixes anything.
It is disheartening that the FGM operations are carried out by “cutters” who have no medical know-how background and under dirty environment which poses more health risks to the children. Lack of basic medical skills aside, the said Cutters use crude and dirty rugged instruments mainly modified from recycled razorblades, old iron sheets or poorly processed iron fragments. It is reported that many young girls who undergo this regrettable passage eventually die due to hemorrhage and or serious infections as the wounds turn septic. In a study published in 2003 by Nature’s Scientific Reports, a revered scientific research journal showed that at least 44,000 girls in Africa die due to complications arising from FGM operations. According to the Orchid Project, Every 12 minutes, a girl dies as a direct result of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). That’s 5 girls in an hour, 120 girls a day, 44,320 girls every year. These are not just numbers—they represent real lives, dreams and futures lost to a practice without a medical purpose. You can imagine that this closely rivals deaths related to armed combat which is about 48,000.
To make FGM sound and look trendy, merchants of this vice sugarcoat this false narrative with dishonesties that females who undergo the cut are more socially upright and those who don’t endure the cut are social misfits. This narrative has been thrust into the social psyche and more so young girls’ minds to the extent that some sneak to the Cutters dens for the disgraceful act. In December 2023, a police officer was stoned to death and body burnt during a FGM rescue mission. At the same time, a Catholic priest was seriously injured for shielding 60 girls from the cut in Elgeyo Marakwet. Interestingly, the youth who attacked and killed the police officer are not just illiterates but college students from a local training center. In 2017, a renowned medical practitioner filed a case alleging that prohibition of FGM for female adults is a violation of Article 44 of the Constitution which states that every person has a right to use the language, and to participate in the cultural life of the person’s choice. Being an adult does not shield one from the ravages of FGM. Indeed, in 2024 a woman bled to death while the co-wife was hospitalized in critical condition after undergoing the cut in Keiyo. It doesn’t matter how the operation is done, it’s useless and dangerous. Those who advocate for medicalized operation or modified cut known as nipping (removing part of the organ) are just trying to justify a crime and an illegality.
The Kenyan law needs to be effected with a lot vigor. The constitution of Kenya in articles Article 29(c) provides the right not to be ‘subjected to any form of violence’ or (f) ‘treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading manner’. Article 44(3) states that ‘a person shall not compel another person to perform, observe or undergo any cultural practice or rite’. In addition, Article 53(d) protects every child from ‘abuse, neglect, harmful cultural practices, and all forms of violence, inhuman treatment and punishment . . .’ The Penal Code Article 4 prohibits deliberate infliction of grievous harm. Other important and related legislation outlawing FGM are the Childrens Act in articles 14, 119 (1) (h) and 113(2). The East Africa Community Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (articles 2 and 3) outlaw FGM and also cross border exercise of the same.
Overall, the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011, is the main Kenyan law that aims to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM). It defines FGM, criminalizes its performance and related activities and criminalizes the performance as well as the procurement, aiding, and abetting of the practice. The Act states that violations can result in imprisonment for a minimum of three years and a fine of at least two hundred thousand shillings. This is too lenient and needs to be enhanced, the penalty for grievous harm according to the Penal Code is life imprisonment and therefore 3 years is too low to discourage cutters from the same.
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