Deputy President Dr William Ruto railed against retrogressive cultures on Saturday.

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The DP spoke to the residents of Ilchamus where he urged them to do away with cultures that he said belonged to the past.

"Because as a nation there are cultures that put us on a road of building the society and the country.There are cultures that we must leave behind. (Kwa sababu kama taifa kuna mila ambayo inatuweka katika barabara ya kujenga jamii na kujenga taifa. Kuna mila zingine lazima tuwache nyuma)," the deputy president said

He went only to say that there our aspects of culture that were good and should be embraced by all Kenyans.

Among cultures that should be chucked overboard, the DP singled out female genital mutilation (FGM).

"Those old things of cutting girls and taking them to corners, those things we must to an end. (Maneno ya zamani ya kuja kukata watoto wasichana na kuwapeleka mahali pengine hapo kwa kona, hiyo maneno lazima tusimamishe), " he added.

A number of pastoral communities continue to subject girls to female genital mutilation as a cultural practice which women rights' activists say dehumanises women.

The government has been involved in a public awareness campaign to sensitise communities on the importance of denouncing retrogressive cultural practices.