Police raided Mororo village in Bangale Sub-County, Tana River, in an operation against an alleged female genital mutilation (FGM) network, Pulse Live Kenya reported. Officers recovered suspected surgical equipment and arrested one person. Police said seven girls are believed to have undergone the procedure. Investigations are continuing, and officers are trying to trace others involved.
The raid has put the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011, back in the spotlight. Sections 19 to 24 set out six offences. Section 19 makes it a crime to perform FGM on anyone. The Act defines FGM as partial or total removal of female genitalia, injury to female genital organs, or other harmful procedures done for non-medical reasons.
A person does not have to do the cutting to face prosecution. Under Section 20, aiding, counselling, encouraging or arranging FGM is an offence. Section 21 bans taking someone out of Kenya, or bringing someone into the country, to be cut. Section 22 targets anyone who knowingly lets premises they control be used for the procedure.
Section 23 makes it a crime to possess tools for a purpose linked to FGM. What counts is the intended use of the tools, Pulse Live Kenya notes. Simply owning medical instruments is not an offence. Section 24 requires anyone who knows FGM has happened, is happening or is planned to report it to a law enforcement officer.
Under Section 29, anyone convicted faces at least three years in prison, a fine of at least KSh 200,000, or both. If someone dies during the procedure, the penalty is life imprisonment. Consent is no defence for the person who performed the cut. Cultural, religious or customary reasons do not override the ban either.
The law also punishes abusive language meant to ridicule a woman for not undergoing FGM, or a man for marrying or supporting such a woman. That offence carries at least six months in prison, a fine of at least KSh 50,000, or both. The Act exempts genuinely necessary surgery by approved medical practitioners and some procedures linked to childbirth.