Female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced early marriages dominated views presented at the public hearing held at the Catholic conference hall as main contributors of violence meted against women and girls in Marsabit County.
While the two vices have stuck with local pastoralist community despite being banned due to ignorance, poverty and drug abuse also featured prominently as contributors of GBV and at times femicide.
Residents poured out their frustrations to the Technical working group on gender based violence including femicide during a public participation session held at the Catholic Conference Hall in Marsabit town saying the widespread practices have robbed girls and women of their human dignity and violated their fundamental rights and freedoms.
The forum that was also attended by County commissioner James Kamau heard that the practices were deeply rooted in the culture of the local pastoralist communities hence the difficulty in enforcing laws enacted against the harmful practices.
The technical working group team lead Michael Kamau heard that there was urgent need for a concerted awareness campaign to sensitize and educate the locals about the outlawed customary practices and laws passed to enforce the same.
“As we stand here more than 80 per cent of members of our communities do not know that changes barring them from practicing certain customs have been made on their culture,” said Ms Nuria Gollo adding that the local traditions also deny women rights to inheritance and access to land.
Ms Nuria, the CEO of Marsabit women advocacy and development (MWADO) said that despite her organization waging a spirited fight against FGM, child marriage and abuse, hindrances still abound because the communities always press for resolve of issues outside the established legal frameworks.
The participants proposed that the fight against drug abuse, especially among the youth be stepped up by law enforcement agencies to ensure that no bhang and other substances are smuggled and sold in the region from a neighboring country.
The establishment of a rescue center for victims of GBV was also suggested in order to give them protection and an enabling healing environment as the perpetrators are pursued by law.
The forum also proposed that the communities who largely remain enslaved in the “collective culture” of protecting their own, hence preferring to settle cases out of court be more enlightened on the parameters that separate alternative justice systems and the rule of law mechanisms.
Thus, the participants implied that residents would willingly make reports on GBV and femicide cases to relevant authorities without fear of reprisals from community traditional governing outfits.
The team also heard that the government should formulate ways of creating job opportunities for the youth who are increasingly getting into marriages even when they do not have stable sources of income, a fertile ground for GBV.
“This will also help in addressing the problem of “Kula fare” which is a dependency syndrome among our youth,” said a participant.
Mr Kariuki assured the participants who also included, religious leaders and the civil society that their views which he termed as valuable would be taken into account as the policy, legal and institutional framework against GBV and femicide is reviewed.
Also present was Marsabit county executive committee member (CEC) for culture and social development Armara Galwab.
By Sebastian Miriti
