Marakwet elders will present gifts to Dr Tatu Kamau who is in court seeking to legalize Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The elders together with professionals from the Marakwet community are a thrilled lot as those who have been punished for engaging in the ‘outlawed cultural’ practice will be vindicated.
”We have been hunted and punished for engaging in FGM yet it is our cultural right,” mzee Kirior Bitok told the Star.
”We have been exposed to unnecessary ridicule and embarrassment as a community because of FGM and our women have been socially frustrated yet it’s our right,” Prof. Cosmas Lotikir added.
He argued that FGM was the cut promoted discipline among married women and reduced divorce cases.
”Married women who are circumcised do not engage in extra-marital affairs and are highly disciplined,” he said, adding that no woman had died from the cut.
Professor Luka Kutto, one of the supporters said that those who choose to go through the practice should not be victimized.
”The case is a bold step to restore the rights of those who choose to undergo FGM,” he said.
Dr Tatu’s case will be heard on 26th February which the Marakwet professionals and elders vowed to attend in their hundreds.
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She filed the case at the Machakos Law courts on Wednesday where she argued that it was discriminatory for the to allow only men undergo circumcision.
”The FGM Act which outlaws female circumcision is outrightly infringing on the women rights to perform their respective cultures and particularly adult women who are capable of giving consent,” she said.
”Female circumcision is part of our National Heritage and history attests to the fact that women from circumcising communities have been as biologically functional and productive as women from non-circumcising communities,” Dr Kamau argued.
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