[According to coordinator at Sister’s Maternity Home Zahara Hashim, cases of FGM are on the rise in the Northern region of the country.] (Photo/asnwersafrica.com)
Female Genital Mutilation related complications continue to affect women in Garissa County even with the existence of the law that protects women and girls from the cut.
The programmes coordinator at Sister’s Maternity Home Zahara Hashim, said at least three cases of retained menstruation, formation of cyst and delayed delivery are reported at the facility every week and these conditions leads to vesico vaginal fistula and at the long run it can bring a permanent disability.
“We are receiving cases of women who have undergone FGM and have had the worse consequences for example every week we get women with vesico vaginal fistula which brings about permanent disability in the long run,” Said the Zahara.
Zahara who was speaking after a sensitization forum for FGM gate keepers for 5 sub locations within Garissa county attributed the trend to the continued abet by some parents secretly taking their young girls aged 5-8 years to the rural set ups to perform the rite.
The FGM crusaders comprises of youth, Islamic scholars and women are nowplanning to table a private sponsored bill at the Garissa County Assembly and integrate it with the FGM act 2011 so that it will be mandatory for the community to domesticate and implement it.
Zahara added that the major challenges they face include rigidity from the community members as well as the religious factor which to some say it promotes the practice.
Sheikh Hussein Mahat a renowned Islamic scholar said the practice commonly witnessed among the Somali community had nothing to do with religion but it was simply a culture that has been sneaked into the religion by some few people.