A 34-year-old mother of three from Kocholwo village in Keiyo South Sub County is the latest victim of gender-based Based Violence (GBV) after she was forced to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by her husband while pregnant and bled to death.
According to Keiyo South Deputy county commissioner Diana Wekesa, the deceased was forced to undergo the rite together with her 45-year-old co-wife, who escaped death narrowly after she also experienced excessive bleeding and was rushed to Kamwosor subcounty Hospital, where she is undergoing treatment.
The DCC said the husband had called the circumciser to undertake the rite at their home, and when she realized that operation had gone awry, she reported the matter to the Kocholwo assistant chief, where she was detained before being handed over to the Kaptagat police station.
According to reports, the sons of the first wife were set to be circumcised on Saturday this week, and therefore the family had agreed that the two women undergo FGM since it was considered a bad omen for uncircumcised women to cook for their circumcised sons.
The DCC said the police were looking for the husband who escaped after the incident, saying the rite was being conducted in secrecy.
She called on area residents to report any such incidents to the police before they happen to prevent the unnecessary loss of lives.
She said FGM remained outlawed in the country due to its dangerous effects on women’s lives, saying there was a reason why health experts advised against the practice.
“People didn’t just wake up one day and decide to do away with the traditional practice. There was enough evidence leading to the decision,” she said.
She called on the community to do away with the practice that has been overtaken by time and adopt to new ways of doing things.
