Source: allAfrica
A MEDIA report has it that three girls aged 13 and 14 recently fled to a local church for protection against perpetrators of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Instead of assisting the local pastor who accompanied the girls to the police, the law enforcers arrested the cleric, severely beating him in an effort to force a confession from him that he had raped the girls.
A hospital examination proved the girls had not been raped, but the police handed them back to their father, who had them subjected to FGM the next day and married within a month, one of them as a third wife.
No disciplinary action was ever brought against the policemen involved, and a private prosecution of the father initiated by the pastor was unsuccessful. Following the trial and publicity around the case, the husband of one of the girls has sent her back to her father for fear of getting prosecuted himself for involvement in her mutilation.
That could be one of the reasons which made the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) to convene a meeting of different stakeholders in the city last week, to discuss ways of ending FGM.
The meeting brought together a good number of government leaders, including the Singida Regional Commissioner Dr Parseko Kone, and his Regional Police Commander Mr Geofrey Kamwela who explained that some efforts were being put forward to reduce practice of FGM in that district.
Mr Kamwela admits that FGM practice is still rampant in that region, and is done secretly to avoid the long arm of the law. "We have started taking serious measures to apply the law that bars FGM in our region, but some people are still practicing secretly," he adds.
According to him, the region needs to intensify war against FGM, especially by creating coordination with local people in all the districts that practice FGM.
He says that good partnership between the government and local leaders may result in having a better coordination that shall eventually make the society abandon FGM practice.
Another person who spoke at the meeting that was held in the city is Saumu Ngoma who works at Tarime/Rorya Regional Special Police Zone. Ms Ngoma is in charge of gender desk in that district, where she says that traditions and cultures have been a stumbling block to end practice of FGM in that area.
"We have a good number of educated people in Rorya and Tarime districts who know the side effects of FGM but yet they continue practicing that, simply because they don't like to annoy the elders. I think we have reached a point where by the society should insist that FGM is a bad practice and should be avoided," says Ms Ngoma.
The meeting was also addressed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Representative, Ms Mariam Khan who said that some parents conduct FGM on children who are less likely to defend themselves and more likely to keep up a veil of secrecy.
She added that a survey conducted recently has shown that baby girls who are below one year old are undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice in Tanzania.
"These children are too young to advocate on their own behalf. That is where we should all come in and propose ways to end the vice," she says. According to Ms Khan, during FGM season every year (usually in December), numerous healthy Tanzanian girls bleed to death as a result of undergoing FGM and some of these deaths go unnoticed by the majority.
The Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, Ms Sophia Simba concurred with Ms Khan, insisting that the community should stage a serious war against FGM.
Ms Simba warned the public against practicing the mutilation, equating it to murder and a vice that affects social economic development of the country.
Ms Simba warned the public against FGM, equating the practice to murder. It should be understood that proven FGM practitioners are liable to six months imprisonment and a fine of 1m/-.
She spoke against the on-going traditional rituals of mutilation and circumcision in Tarime District Mara Region, a deep rooted culture that contributes to high levels of maternal mortality in the country.
Activists says that FGM is openly performed in various areas in Mara region, and no action is being taken by the police. Ms Simba says that one of the recent reports show that FGM has been abandoned by some communities following public awareness initiatives undertaken by the government, religious institutions and Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs). "Just remember that a woman is the pillar of the family, child upbringing is not a joke.
It is time the society shun outdated customs and practices," she remarked. She called upon her fellow politicians to rail against FGM, saying the society ought to know that such a fight deserves serious fight.
According to the minister, FGM is rampant in Mara where 40 per cent of all women undergo the practice, while the number was even higher in Dodoma where 64 per cent of women are cut.
Other regions practising FGM are Singida (51 per cent), Manyara (71 per cent) and Arusha 59 per cent. Recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report says that women who have undergone FGM are up to 55 per cent more likely to lose their newborn children during or shortly after delivery.
The same mothers are also much more likely to die during delivery themselves due to up to 31 per cent increase in the need for a C-section and up to 69 per cent increase in postpartum haemorrhage.
However, good news from Kilimanjaro and Manyara regions say that efforts to end FGM is proving success, as community get sensitised to end the vice. In the two regions, about 200 female "circumcisers" recently surrendered the tools they used in the act and confirmed in public that they will no longer perform the procedure.
The Executive Director for the Moshi-based Network Against Female Genital Mutilation (NAFGEM) organization, Mr Francis Selasini said children camps to end FGM have also been conducted in Rombo, Same, Hai and Simanjiro districts, involving 800 pupils.
In the camps, said Mr Selasini, the girls had the opportunity to learn and exchange information and ideas on FGM and strategies to prevent themselves from being subjected to the practice.
"NAFGEM has participated in a rare Maasai traditional gathering and was opportune to convince the decision makers to give order against the FGM vice to their clan members," said Mr Selasini.
He added that special programmes such as the Maasai anti-FGM, village animators and children camps have brought an enormous change in th