Four arrested as they prepare girl for the ‘cut’ in Meru

Four women, including the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was about to be circumcised in Igembe North, Meru County, have been arrested.

Acting on a tip-off from the public, police and administrators laid a trap for the women as they prepared to have the girl circumcised in a kiosk at night.

Antuambui Chief Gerald Kithia said the girl, who always tops her class, is also in police custody to help with the investigations.

“We received information that the woman was planning to have her daughter cut and we laid a trap. At around 1am, we trailed them to a shop where two women were called in before the circumciser arrived. The two women were to assist in restraining the girl,” he said.

“We watched through the cracks as they laid the girl on a sheet and conducted some rituals which are done before the cut. It is then that we broke into the shop arrested the suspects and rescued the girl,” Mr Kithia said.

He said the cut was allegedly planned after the girl reported experiencing a burning sensation in her private parts.

The chief said that the circumciser admitted to have been practising the illicit act in the area for several years.

The arrest comes days after President Uhuru Kenyatta warned that any government official found to abet FGM would be dealt with firmly.

Mr Kithia said they have intensified intelligence gathering and public sensitisation in efforts to avert FGM in the area.

“Following the president’s directive, we have intensified crackdowns to ensure FGM does not happen in our location. I urge the public to be vigilant and share information immediately to enable us arrest anyone attempting to practice FGM,” the chief said.

Igembe North DCC Charles Langat said the administration was on high alert to fight FGM in the area.

Several cases of FGM have been reported in Meru this year with the most recent being late last month where three school girls were rescued from a house in Mwiyo Igembe Central after undergoing the cut.

Administrators Igembe Central are still hunting for parents, of the three primary school pupils, who have since gone into hiding.

In September, a mother of five underwent the cut in Igembe North with the husband who is alleged to have organised the act going into hiding.

In the same month, five women from Imenti Central were sentenced to three years in jail by a Githongo court for undergoing FGM.

Meru is among 22 counties most affected by FGM and Njuri Nceke elders took part in last week’s anti FGM forum where a commitment to end FGM by 2022 was made.

In March this year, the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida) and Njuri Ncheke elders unveiled a monument in Laare, Igembe North in honor of 14-year-old Jelida Gaichuiri who died after undergoing FGM last year.