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Retired nurses have taken over circumcising girls in Embu after old women quit the practice, an elder has claimed.
Mbeere Ngome Council of Elders Coordinator Njeru Mairani said medics who left their jobs in hospitals had set base in remote villages in Mbeere to tap into the ready female circumcision market.
He told the Embu County Gender Committee yesterday that the outlawed practice is thriving in parts of Evurore ward, where parents are forcing their daughters to undergo the rite.
He claimed two retired female nurses who served at Ishiara sub-county Hospital at one time are notorious for colluding with parents to circumcise girls, some as young as eight years.
"They do it in the client's houses. They are both residents of Ishiara location and know the area quite well. Armed with their surgical paraphernalia, they pretend to be visiting homes, where they circumcise the girls," he said.
Mairani claimed local government administrators were aware of the situation but do not take action since the community is steeped into the practice.
"We have a problem here especially in Evurore where girls aged between eight and 12 years are forced by their parents to undergo the cut, which is normally conducted by health professionals who have left their jobs. They then drop out of school as they are made to feel they are adults while some are married off. As elders, we are determined to work with the Government to end this," he said.
Speaking at Ishiara town during a public participation forum for the Embu County Childcare Facilities Bill, 2015, Mairani said it was not the first time some trained medics in parts of Embu have been accused of conducting the vice.
Embu Woman Representative Rose Mitaru has in the past also claimed that rogue medics perform the cut on girls.
She said some medics charged as little as Sh500 for the operation.
Ms Mitaru expressed concerns that at least 49 per cent of girls in Embu are subjected to the vice and vowed to lead in fighting the rite
Nancy Ciarunji, a resident of Evurore ward, said mothers who circumcise their girls seek the services of the retired health workers.
"When schools close, girls are forced to undergo circumcision. I hear women seek the services of former nurses and doctors," she said.
Mairani called for the drafting of a county law that would impose stiff penalties to both parents and medics found culpable.
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