Anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) board has refuted claims circulating in the media that girls from Narok County were paraded in school to undergo an FGM test.
Speaking to media on Tuesday in Nairobi, the board chair Agnes Pareyio confirmed that all girls in Narok County are back in school in accordance with the ministry of Education calendar (MOE) and that none has been paraded for FGM screening as per the allegations.
“The Anti-FGM Board confirms that it has been working very closely with the provincial administration through the office of the county commissioners in different counties to create awareness on the prohibition of FGM Act, 2011 and to create awareness on the negative effects of FGM,” said Pareyia.
The board said it has visited the six sub-counties which include Narok East, Narok West, Narok North, Narok South, Kilgoris and Emurua Dikirr in collaboration with the office of the county commissioner where they were able to reach out to 350 chiefs, assistant chiefs, sub-county commissioners, Nyumba kumi and 930 women for FGM awareness creation.
This comes barely days after Narok commissioner George Natembeya directed all upper primary and secondary school girls in Narok to undergo checks for pregnancy and female genital mutilation.
The tough-talking administrator said on Wednesday that he formed a team to investigate teen pregnancies, by going to school to gather data.
The team comprises officers from the provincial administration, health, education and gender affairs departments.
However, Narok teachers dismissed the commissioner directive terming it as violation of human rights and does not fall under teachers mandates
Narok is leading nationally, standing at 40 percent in teenage pregnancies according to the latest Demographic Health Survey.
