A Member of Embu County Assembly caused public outcry after he publicly proposed that girls be circumcised in order to reduce cases of sexual immorality.
Speaking in the Assembly, Kyeni South Ward Representative Salesio Kimaru, said that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was the only appropriate way of deterring young girls from making sexual advances to older men.
He argued that the county was being faced with increased cases of immorality and incest, which would only be curbed if all girls underwent the cut.
“In future, they are going to ignore the ages. A lot of immorality is being witnessed; men sleeping with their daughters, boys sleeping with their mothers, this has been affected by erosion of culture,” he said according to Nairobi News.
The statement attracted sharp reactions from female legislators who shouted Kimaru down to retract his statement.
Kimaru was rescued by interim Speaker Steve Simba who intervened and ordered him to withdraw his proposal.
“You are responsible for your utterances and you know FGM is against the laws of this country and you cannot purport to go against the law. You need to withdraw what you’ve said,” warned Mr Simba.
FGM is illegal in Kenya as enshrined in the 2010 constitution although some communities still practise the tradition in hiding.
