Female gentle mutilation (FGM) cases have dropped in Kajiado by 15 per cent in the last eight years, despite challenges in the war on the retrogressive practice. 

Campaigns against FGM in the vast county have been a swim against riptides given the nomadic lifestyle of the native community—Maasai. The cut is linked to marriageability and typically carried out on girls aged below 15 to make them eligible brides.

At 78 per cent, the FGM prevalence in the county was amongst the highest in Kenya, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014.

In 2019, Kajiado launched a policy to end FGM at the community level, bringing together different players. The Kajiado County FGM Policy proposed the alternative rite of passage as a key intervention. The county has attributed the decline to this effort.

County gender officer Mary Taiko, said concerted efforts have borne fruit, though girls are not out of the woods yet.

“We have managed to reduce the FGM prevalence from 78 per cent to 63 per cent for the past eight years,” she told The Voice, citing a growing recognition that FGM is a harmful practice and a violation of women’s and girls’ rights.

Cross-border FGM cases and those carried out in hospitals have been termed a major challenge orchestrated by those keen on evading the law.

Hurdles

A sensitisation forum in Kajiado town, on Tuesday, noted that court cases involving FGM and early marriage drag. 

“Whenever a culprit is arraigned for FGM-related offences, the case drags for years, denying the victim justice. Some victims are intimidated, prompting them to withdraw. This has been a setback to the fight against FGM," said Jedidah Lemaron, Malkia Intiative director. 

Local administrators are also on the spot for abetting the practice, instead of protecting girls. Last year, a chief and his assistant from Kajiado Central were charged with abetting FGM and early marriage. The case is ongoing.

“Most local administrators remain the biggest barrier to the FGM fight in Kajiado. They collude with culprits and look the other way when they are supposed to act. We will be calling out such officers," said Dorcas Parit, an activist.

Participants also called for political goodwill and urged the county government to set aside funds for heightened campaigns. It is estimated that 100,000 girls undergo FGM in Kenya every year. By Stanley Ngotho, NMG

Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has directed importers and owners to clear out all motor vehicle units warehoused in Coin Bond in Nakawa Kampala. In a notice issued yesterday, URA indicated that the commissioner customs had taken a decision to close Coin Bond, noting that no importer or owner would be expected to deposit a motor vehicle in the said facility.  

“The Commissioner Customs notifies the general public about the closure of Coin Bond, as such, no motor vehicle units shall be deposited in the said facility with effect from March 22,” the notice reads in part, adding: “The Commissioner Customs calls upon all owners of motor vehicles that are still warehoused in this bond to clear them out within ten [10] days … for either home consumption, exportation or removal to another licenced bond.”Coronavirus and its effect on the car sales business

Coin is one of the largest bonds that warehouses used motor vehicle in Uganda. It covers a long stretch on Jinja Road. Mr Ibrahim Bbosa, the URA assistant commissioner for public and corporate affairs, yesterday told Monitor, the bond had been closed over a land wrangle, which had existed over a long period of time.  

“In our conditions for licensing bonds, it is not sustainable to have a bond whose existence is not guaranteed. So, there have been some back and forth between them and us where we have advised them to take the vehicles to other bonds.

Their latest communication to Commissioner Customs was requesting for more time, so that the car owners in the bond are able to pay their demurrage. Otherwise, if they just go away they will lose the demurrage,” he said, noting that they had provided the option of relocating vehicles to other bonds because their licence as a bonded warehouse for vehicles is not tenable now given their challenges.  

However, Mr Bbosa did not give details of the nature of the land wrangle between Coin Bond and their landlord. Sources close to the matter, who asked for anonymity to speak freely about the matter, told Monitor the bond was being closed because of a land wrangle that has existed for more than 28 years.

The wrangle, sources said, is between Coin Bond and the landlord, whose details we could not readily establish. 

However, sources noted, the landlord had recently won a court case, which in essence requires Coin Bond to vacate the land. 

we could not readily get a comment from proprietors of Coin Bond. 

An old case 

It was not readily clear whether the wrangle is related to the one in 2000, in which Hwang Sung was forced to withdrew from Coin, after court stopped it from occupying the disputed bonded warehouse, which had been allocated to Hwang Sung by the KCC, now KCCA on claims that the owners had failed to utilise it ever since it was leased out. By Dorothy Nakaweesi, Daily Monitor