President Uhuru: Let’s End FGM to Empower Girls
His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that bringing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to an end is the way to go to empower the Girl-child in Kenya so that they can be involved in national development.
“If we want to achieve our national goals, we have to change and offer our girls opportunities in education to excel.
“If you look around the world, women are holding high positions and we do not want to be left behind because of retrogressive cultural activities,” said President Uhuru.
His Excellency President Uhuru was speaking on Friday at Kisima in Samburu County where he saw the signing of a declaration by elders to bring FGM to an end. Together with the declaration, the elders also signed on ending child marriages.
The president was on a one-day working tour. He challenged communities practicing FGM to leave the retrogressive cultural practices behind and find alternative rites of passage.
“I know it is possible for our girls to go through alternative rites of passage without suffering,” said President Uhuru.
While sampling a few benefits of educating girls, the President advised the Samburu to give their boys and girls an equal chance of attending school.
Earlier in the day, His Excellency addressed 500 students and staff at Kisima Girls Secondary, a short while after Uhuru attended Samburu leaders meeting in the school, Uhuru said that girls should get support from all Kenyans to have the same and equal chance just like their male counterparts.
He revealed that the government is fully committed to ending FGM fully to enable girls to lead meaningful lives.
“What we are starting today is a program that will empower young girls throughout the country to be able to live their lives to the fullest, to be able to have the opportunity of going to school, completing their education, and preparing themselves for meaningful jobs,” he said.
On the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), His Excellency thanked MCAs from Samburu for passing the bill and rallied residents to vote for the law reform process in the upcoming referendum.
“We want to continue building our nation and we have come to an understanding that the only way to develop is to increase funding to the Counties.
“This will ensure that wananchi will not have to wait for the national Government to approve the kind of projects they need,” said the Head of State.
The President also spoke about insecurity in Samburu and the neighboring Counties. He said that cattle rustlers and bandits in Baragoi and other areas of concern who will not cooperate with agencies of the State during a planned disarmament exercise will face the law.
The Head of State then inspected a number of Government Projects in Samburu County. Among the projects he visited were the Multipurpose Yamo Dam and the Posta-Kisima-Maralal Road.
Speaking in Maralal town where the President acknowledged greetings from residents, the Head of State announced that the military camp from the town in order to provide space for expansion.
His Excellency President Uhuru was accompanied on the day-long tour by Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal, his counterpart from Marsabit Mohamud Mohamed, and Cabinet Secretaries Charles Keter (Energy), Prof Margaret Kobia (Gender), and Keriako Tobiko (Environment).
Uhuru’s entourage also consisted of Head of Public Service Dr. Joseph Kinyua, State House Chief of Staff Nzioka Waita, and Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya just to mention but a few.
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