The High Court in Machakos will rule to determine whether a case filed by doctor Tatu Kamau, who wants female circumcision legalised, will proceed or not.
Dr Kamau, who has been practicing medicine for 26 years, asked the court to declare as unconstitutional, an Act that outlawed Female Genital Mutilation.
In her argument, Dr Kamau remarks that stopping women from undergoing the cut yet men are allowed to get circumcised is discriminatory.
According to her, banning the practice is tantamount to embracing Western culture and disregarding local practices as inferior.
[caption caption="Doctor Tatu Kamau"]
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She asked the court to declare as unconstitutional the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, which was enacted in 2011 and further, requested a declaration that the board formed to fight the practice was improperly constituted.
“The Act has created distress within some communities by overly favouring the cultural practices of one gender against the cultural practices of the other gender in contravention of the constitutional fundamental right of gender equality,” dr Kamau stated.
The doctor’s view is that women can equally undergo the adulthood initiation process safely if the females get proper training, just as the traditional male counterparts.
“Every citizen has a right to equality and freedom from discrimination but the said Act shows open intolerance to women who wish to undergo female circumcision even for the purpose of upholding their culture. They are treated unequally to the men who undergo a similar surgical procedure,” she argues.
Parliament passed Female Genital Mutilation Act in 2011 and it spelled a punishment of between three years and life imprisonment for those caught conducting FGM and those who cause the death of an initiate.
[caption caption="Anti-FGM protests"]
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The legislators also prescribed a fine of Sh200,000 as alternative punishment and in total, the Act created nine offences which makes it punishable for a person who ridicules a woman who has not undergone a cut or abusing a man who marries or supports such a woman.
